Two and the Same
by Char Mosirren
Summary: Have you ever heard, "A small change can make all the difference?" Kurama was nicer due to Kushina's trust, and this time helped Naruto out from the beginning, what changes can we expect from this new duo? For no matter how much changes, there's always stuff that stays the same. (Hiatus while I work on my book. Sorry!)
1. Happy Seventh Birthday

_**A random idea that sprouted from my head, I started reading some Naruto fanfictions and my mind just went**_

_**"What if Naruto and Kurama knew and helped each other since Naruto was a little kid? Would anything even change in the end or would things be different? How would they be different?" **_

_**Enjoy the ride!**_

_**Edit: I decided to go back and Bold and Italic thoughts when Kurama is speaking. Looking back, I realized it was pretty confusing for people when it went through and I didn't mean to confuse people about that. Thanks for sticking with me for this long guys! Kurama's thoughts will be basically the same as AN with bold and Italic. I might do Underline on top of that to signal ANs, but I don't know just yet about that in all honestly. The rule is Bold=Kurama and no-bold=Naruto if you ever get confused. I think the only reason I didn't Bold and Italic to begin with is I was concerned since I always do that for Author Notes and I didn't want that to be treated as an Author note.**_

_**I think I got this pretty well edited to completion, but I might look back later and see stuff to edit and the like.**_

_**A little fact thing for these edits based on the original concepts of the chapter, (think of these as concept art, just with words :P) Honoke was originally based on the landlord from Naruto the Dawn of the Gamer's landlord, so if you read that, you can see similarities between the first lines from Honoke here and there. It wasn't until about...halfway through the chapter that I went and fleshed him out a bit more. Figured that was pretty interesting!**_

_**Edit 2: Thanks to Flying Raijin for catching a lot of spelling mistakes as well as two grammar mistakes that slipped my eye, the saddest part was one was in the A/N, lol. Thanks for the help Raijin! Appreciate it man!**_

_**Well, enjoy the story guys!**_

* * *

**Two and the Same**

**Chapter 1: The wild and unpredictable Ninja: Naruto Uzumaki appears!**

A sigh resonated from a young householder, who looked about the age of a 6 or 7 year old, as he looked at his empty apartment. "I totally forgot food again..." He groaned out of embarrassment, hunger, and sadness. His wild blonde hair didn't match his middling mood at the moment before he yelled "Ah forget it! I'll just head back to the store and grab some more Ramen cups! That'll cheer me up!" He grinned, his earlier mood forgotten already. He had a pair of googles on his face in wake of a headband and hummed a little off-note tune, "Gonna get me some Ramen~ Gonna get me some food!" He sang somewhat loudly as he flopped to the bed.

"Ahh, THIS IS THE LIFE! I can't believe the Old Man got me this place! It was a hassle yesterday, but well worth it for the chance to not have to deal with others!" the boy said aloud loudly to no one in particular. This boy's name was Naruto Uzumaki. He was only 6, turning 7 tomorrow, and the leader of the village, known as the Hokage to most while Naruto calls him Old Man, decided to give him an early birthday present. Naruto had no current worries until his door slammed open.

"SHUT UP IN THERE! YOU'RE TOO LOUD!" An older man, his landlord, yelled at the young boy. Instead of backing down, the boy looked towards the landlord in confusion. "YES YOU YOU LITTLE BRAT! YOU'RE TOO LOUD!" The landlord repeated, finger accusingly pointing towards Naruto, who grew angry.

"YOU'RE BEING LOUDER THAN ME, WHAT DO YOU MEAN!?" Naruto retaliated.

"YOU'RE THE GUEST HERE! YOU HAVE TO BE MINDFUL OF OTHERS YOU STUPID BRAT!" The landlord spat back.

"WHAT DID YOU CALL ME!?" Naruto yelled even louder until a new voice entered the conversation **_"God will you SHUT UP already!? You two are yelling too loudly!"_** The voice proclaimed as Naruto looked around, face now rooted in confusion again. The landlord groaned, finding the anger not worth it, as he tried a different approach.

"Look kid, you're not the only one living in this place, sure you own this area thanks to Lord Hokage, but you have to be mindful of your neighbors as well, okay? Sorry if we got off on the wrong foot, my name is Honoke Meni and I'm in charge of making sure this whole place is up to snuff and all my apartment owners are getting along and following the rules! I see you forgot to buy groceries huh? Ramen cups aren't good for you, so tell you what, I'll go with you and help you pick out some groceries to make some healthy meals, and then we'll go out and I can show you around a bit more?" Honoke introduced himself as Naruto went through his sentences again.

"Ramen is totally healthy! I can live off of that instead of going with-" Naruto almost finished his sentence before a growl rumbled through his mind. **_"Don't you dare finish that sentence, say yes you stubborn brat." _**The voice in his head said as Naruto gulped, seeing Honoke twitch in looked like suppressed rage from the comment.

"Ramen is not healthy for you, it's great in moderation, but you cannot live with JUST ramen without falling behind in physical strength. You DO want to be a shinobi do you not!?" Honoke said back, trying his hardest not to yell as Naruto's head fell again. _He has a point... _Naruto thought to himself, before hearing a scoff in response in his head.

_**"He does, if you want to get stronger and be worthy of my presence, you need to keep a healthy food habit. I don't even know why I would want to help such a stubborn brat like you, but if you can prove worthy, I can make you strong enough to become better than that old man of yours." **_The voice claimed, Naruto looked in shock before nodding out of determination. Honoke just looked in confusion at the young boy before shrugging it off.

"You know it! I'm going to become the greatest Hokage you've ever seen! Let's go get those groceries Landlord-san!" Naruto exclaimed with a grin fresh on his face as he gave Honoke a thumbs up, to which Honoke deadpanned.

"What happened to 'Ramen is totally healthy, I can live off of that instead of going with me?' huh?" Honoke asked as Naruto started to sweat from how well Honoke had him figured out.

"U-Uh, I decided that I needed the help! I really don't know how my body works and if I messed it up I would do terribly at the academy and might not pass! I want to be able to graduate top of the class and impress all of them! Then they'll all look up to me instead of always ignoring me or hating me for no reason! They'll have to pay attention!" Naruto said, eyes sparkling with the dream that he had. It was enough to get a few chuckles out of Honoke who shook his head.

"Kids nowadays...okay tell you what. Since it's getting dark right now, you can eat over at my place tonight and I'll help you shop in the morning. Then I'll give you an extended tour around town and teach you what little I know about being a shinobi." Honoke said with a smirk rushing to his face. _Any second now..._ He thought as Naruto erupted in joy.

"YES YES YESS! thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou! Do you really mean it!?" Naruto practically begged Honoke as Honoke's smirk widened.

"I do, but you have to eat all of the supper, or none of that happens! We'll go through this once every two weeks from then on, if you fail, I won't do any of that for those two weeks and if you pass, I'll train you as much as I can. Though I must wa-" Honoke tried to add on as Naruto nodded enthusiastically before rushing out his open door towards Honoke's place, at least...he thought he was as Naruto soon came back in confusion.

"Where's your place again?" He asked as Honoke could no longer contain his laughter, this kid was too much for him, and that stubborn bullheadedness was enough to lift the spirits of anyone. No wonder the Hokage sent him to watch over this little guy.

"Come on, just know that since I'm only a citizen, I don't know much, but I can teach you basic self defense citizen-wise and some shinobi history. It'll provide you a better start then from no base at all, don't you think?" Honoke asked the energetic lad before lightly bopping him aside the head.

"Hey! What was that for!?" Naruto whined as Honoke rolled his eyes.

"You were being too loud, people are sleeping." Honoke's smile slowly turned into a smirk as Naruto pouted. He turned the key and opened the door to his house. "I know its not much, but make yourself at home. I'll make some tea while you wait." Honoke said as Naruto wandered the apartment space. Furniture was here and there and the place looked much more lived in then his home, having a lamp, chairs, and much more stock in the kitchen. Naruto sniffed as he smelt the food that Honoke started cooking. He looped back around towards the kitchen as Honoke smiled. "I was making a homemade roast for myself, figuring I'll just have leftovers for some other day, I can easily cook enough for the both of us, but the sides are vegetables with a side of potatoes," Naruto made a disgusted face at this. "Either way we made a deal and you have to honor it, and it's much better than starving right?" Honoke continued as if he never seen the face, even though he had and was chuckling a bit from the expressiveness of the boy standing behind him. "It'll be a while before it gets done, feel free to look at the shelves for any books you would want to read in the meantime while I make this." Honoke suggested as Naruto nodded and walked off.

He didn't really want to since they weren't his, but Honoke offered and he really didn't want to stand awkwardly behind him like that. He looked around on the shelves before something stood out to his eyes, it looked older than the other books as it had a worn out grayish backing to it, it was also quite hefty for poor old Naruto, as well as being placed on a much higher shelf. Naruto looked around before seeing the chair and grabbing it, make sure that Honoke didn't hear it as it scrapped across the room for it to be placed by the shelf. Honoke was curious from the noise and came around from the corner to see Naruto stand on it to read the book. He deadpanned and walked over, waiting for Naruto to notice him. After a few seconds of Naruto still struggling, he coughed pointedly, scaring Naruto into knocking the book off as well as himself off balance. Honoke quickly caught both of them before putting them down. He sighed while Naruto looked completely awestruck.

"Woah that was so cool! How did you do that!" Naruto asked as Honoke waved him off.

"Maybe some other time, are you okay?" Honoke asked as Naruto nodded before walking over to the book. "You have a keen eye, this here is my...uh...yearbook, yeah let's go with that, of my high school year." He said as Naruto narrowed his eyes at him.

"Landlord-san, even I could tell you're lying, what really is it?" Naruto asked as Honoke sighed.

"It's...well it was from my father, when he was a shinobi." Naruto's eyes glinted as Honoke explained reluctantly, it wasn't like he was lying, it was from his father, just wasn't for the reason that Naruto thought it was.

"Really!?" Naruto exclaimed as Honoke nervously shook his head.

"Yeah." He smiled, "And he retired to take care of me, so he managed to teach me a bit about the shinobi way of life, but not enough that I feel really confident about it, I'll try teaching you all I can okay? Now...supper time!" He grinned as the oven beeped immediately after he said that. Naruto was practically glowing in awe.

"No way..." Naruto said, stupefied in awe at the act before snapping out of it. While he mentally puked at the sight of the broccoli and other vegies, he sucked it in and nearly started eating before Honoke stopped him. "What's the big idea!?" Naruto asked before Honoke shook his head.

"We must offer respects to those that brought us our food first. For the farmers who planted the plants and raised the pig that became our roast, and to the shinobi that risk their lives each and every day with the intent on keeping us safe from harm's way. Thank you for this gift you have given us tonight." Honoke said as he and Naruto bowed their heads. An eye opened from the two of them, a smile forming on their faces. "Let's dig in!" They both said in union as they bit into their meal.

Silence befell the two of them as they stood still, staring at each other.

Both spit out the roast at the same time.

"T-Take out?" Honoke suggested, struggling to clean his mouth of the disgusting taste.

"Please! I'm dying over here! What the heck are your cooking skills anyways!?" Naruto demanded, coughing from the burntness of the roast. It was so burnt it was nearly uneatable.

Honoke looked almost downright offended, "You're one to talk! I bet you can't even crack an egg, let alone cook a meal!" He said as snickers came from the two of them, it eventually went into full on laughter for a while between the two before Honoke managed to calm down.

"Okay, let's go, I know a good restaurant we can go to that's open at this time of night, just stay close to me okay?" Honoke said as Naruto nodded. Honoke grabbed the two plates and put them outside a door before walking down the stairs. Naruto almost asked before Honoke shushed him and pointed back towards the door. An old lady smiled as she grabbed the two plates and brought them inside.

"How does she even survive off of your cooking?" Naruto asked fearfully, and for once, Honoke had no answer.

"I'm still trying to figure out that one myself..." He admitted. Shuddering, the two quietly slipped off towards town.

* * *

They had been wandering around town a bit, with Honoke having Naruto learn the basics of stealth as they went to their destination. To put it simply...he was bad, very bad at it in fact. Honoke sighed as he walked back and bopped Naruto's head.

"Fix your body position, you're exposed as you are, know how your body fits around the objects and use the advantage of it being night to better make use of the shadows. On top of that, keep your eyes looking all around you, don't focus in on anything lest you get caught unexpectedly." Honoke instructed, helping Naruto better fit behind the food cart, Naruto nodded all along, soaking in the knowledge. "Now if you ever go on one of your prank runs, you might be able to not get caught for a while longer." Honoke said as Naruto's eyes glinted. Honoke glared, "If you prank me, there will be consequences, don't even think of it buddy." Naruto nodded with a grin on his face.

They kept going through town, but no matter how many times Honoke instructed Naruto on his stealth, Naruto still remained unaware of his surroundings. He was getting better at hiding his shape, but that could only help so much before you get attacked from behind. Honoke sighed in annoyance before writing it off, let the Academy deal with that. He tapped Naruto from behind, once again shocking him.

"Landlord-san! Why do you keep doing that!?" Naruto whined in a loud whisper. Honoke deadpanned, whispering back.

"What did we talk about? Be aware of your surroundings and maybe I won't be able to do that." Naruto hung his head in defeat. "We're here by the way." Naruto's head shot back up with eyes befitting excitement. Honoke snickered as he pointed to the restaurant. "This is Yakiniku Q, one of the most popular BBQ places in Konoha, and one of my favorite places to eat to get great meat!" Honoke bragged about the place, looking oddly sad at the same time, he quickly shook it off when he looked back at Naruto. "Let's go in!" The two nodded as they sneaked around and entered the front of the restaurant.

* * *

The sun was already completely down, and yet the restaurant still looked jam packed with all types of people, Honoke was searching for someone before he found him near the back while Naruto took in the sight and smell of the place. Honoke took Naruto's hand and led him to the robust man sitting in the back, markings lining his face. Before they sat down Honoke looked to Naruto.

"Now Naruto, unless you want to permanently get kicked out of here and stuff, do NOT call this guy fat or anything resembling that word. He's very sensitive to that, and people like him are as well, so please, don't. Call him robust if you have to, or just think of all of that so-called 'fat' as muscle, but whatever you do, don't call him fat." Honoke warned Naruto, who looked towards the man again and nodded. Honoke sighed as he saw Choza looking at him with a raised eyebrow and amusement on his face. Honoke was slightly terrified as he could tell Choza heard him, loud and clear, but was thankful he didn't catch his ire. _Oh thank god, that was a close one._ He thought to himself, before leading Naruto to the table.

"These seats taken?" Honoke asked Choza, who motioned them to sit down with a smile. "Thanks, so what's on the order tonight Choza?" Honoke grinned at Choza's rolled eyes.

"You got the money to pay?" Choza asked as Honoke grabbed his wallet and showed some bills.

"Depends on the little lad's appetite, though it can't be as bad as yours now can it?" Honoke jabbed again.

"Least he would have the ability to eat some real cooking." Choza jabbed back, laughing as soon as Naruto was nodding rapidly to that one. Honoke was crestfallen.

"I really need to learn how to cook..." Honoke fake-pouted with a smile.

"Ah come on now, maybe after 30 years you can finally crack an egg!" Choza said, hearing the snickers out of Naruto at this. "Ah well, all jokes and jabs aside, it's good to see you here man. Almost thought you would try eating a cooked meal of yours!" Choza laughed heartily at Honoke's hung head, knowing that he hit it on the head. "Did he have you try it to young one?" Choza asked Naruto who nodded, much to Choza's amusement. Before Honoke could get any more depressed at his terrible cooking skills, the waitress went over to Choza.

"Lord Akimichi, what do you wish to eat today?" She asked Choza to which Naruto became confused.

"Lord Akimichi?" He repeated out of confusion.

"Ah, sorry for him, they're my guests tonight, bring them a menu if you would, and I'll have one of everything." Choza apologized when he saw the near offended look the waitress gave Naruto. "They call me Lord Akimichi because my name is Choza Akimichi, the 15th head of the Akimichi clan. Nice to meet you." Choza introduced himself.

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki, one day, I'll become the Hokage, believe it!" Naruto introduced himself to the hearty laughter of Choza.

"I'll believe it when I see it, keep working hard and one day you might well become the next Hokage!" Choza said to the grin of Naruto.

The two commenced in some small talk, just talking about the day and everything for a while before he had asked Naruto when his birthday was.

"My birthday's tomorrow!" Naruto said with a wide happy grin to the surprise of Choza and Honoke.

"Then how about you celebrate at my place tomorrow?" Choza offered to the young boy, who looked up in excitement.

"Really!?" He nearly jumped up in joy when Choza nodded. "YAHOO!" He yelled in excitement to the playful bonk of Honoke.

"Easy there, other people are eating here too, gotta be mindful of that. I'll lead him to the compound tomorrow then Choza, thank you for that." Honoke smiled as Choza laughed once more. Then their food arrived and they ate after cooking it, Naruto having tried to challenge Choza to an eating race and losing spectacularly to the cheerful laughter of Choza and Honoke. Soon they were all full and content with it.

That is until they brought the bills. One bill was to Choza with the charges of his meal which he easily paid for. The other was to Naruto and Honoke to which Honoke sighed as he paid for it. "Well I underestimated his appetite, oh well I barely had enough for it." Honoke shrugged, still happy that he was able to eat with his friend.

"Don't forget tomorrow! I'll have Choji come and pick you up at 10, okay? Now go get some rest!" Choza smiled as Naruto struggled to stay awake. Honoke looked surprised, before putting Naruto on his back.

"Go to sleep Naruto, I'll get you home." He smiled as Naruto went to sleep and said goodbye to Choza.

* * *

_The Next Morning_

"Huh...?" Naruto groaned as he got up to knocking on the door. Yawning, he opened the door to getting knocked on the face. "Ow..." He groaned as he looked back to the open door to see a smaller Choza looking person, the markings were swirls instead of the curved lines that Choza had, and you could only see the beginning of the gut swell that the Akimichi clan was known for.

"Sorry! I didn't mean to do that!" The young kid apologized as Naruto got back up from the floor. "Are you okay!?" The kid panicked as Naruto nodded.

"Yeah, I'm alright! Nothing can keep Naruto Uzumaki down that long, believe it!" Naruto grinned as the kid smiled.

"My name is Choji Akimichi, happy birthday! I came to get you and Honoke so we can go to the birthday party!" Choji introduced, mostly excited since they were laying a feast, along with Cake. Naruto grinned and hugged Choji for a bit before stepping back once more.

"Thanks, my name is Naruto Uzumaki and I'm going to become the next Hokage, believe it!" Naruto introduced himself to the laughter of Choji. "What's the big idea!?" Naruto said, more than a little insulted at that.

"You, being Hokage? I'll believe it when I see it." Choji said, nearly mirroring the words of Choza, to which Naruto relaxed a bit towards. "You got a long way to go before you can even dare try to say you'll be Hokage!" Choji added.

Honoke finally got up and walked towards the two children. "Come on, we got quite a bit of ground to cover to get to the Akimichi compound don't we?" Honoke told them as he broke up the growing argument between them before Naruto made a mistake he would not recover from. They went towards the Academy during town, Naruto being the only one unable to ignore the hated glares that came his way. Someone knocked into him purposefully, causing the poor boy to fall down.

"WHAT WAS THAT FOR!?" Naruto demanded as the man scoffed.

"Like I need a reason for you." He said as Naruto growled in retaliation.

_**"Stupid humans...can't they see that you're nothing like me? Can't even look past the appearance before hating someone."**_ The voice inside sounded spiteful at this and Naruto himself couldn't tell why. Naruto looked towards the man.

"I'm just like you, we're both human beings, we're both doing our best to serve this village, why am I so different from you in your eyes!?" Naruto asked, surprised by the words that came out of his mouth, but agreeing to them all the same. The man grit his teeth out of anger.

"You're nothing like me!" He spat towards Naruto, putting his fist back as if he was going to punch the kid when Iruka came by to stop him. The man growled a bit before Honuke also walked towards them, both glaring at him to try something. "Hmph, never say you're like me again you hear me!?" The man decided against it before walking away in anger. Iruka and Honoke sighed in relief as Iruka looked towards Naruto, kneeling down to his level.

"Are you okay Naruto? I saw what happened while I got ready for the new Academy year to start and couldn't let it happen to you." Iruka asked as Naruto nodded solemnly. Honoke stepped up and looked towards Iruka with a smile.

"Hey Naruto, don't forget we're heading towards your birthday party, invite Iruka along why don't you?" Honoke asked with a smile.

"You know Iruka-sensei?" Naruto asked in confusion, scaring both Iruka and Honoke. _He wasn't supposed to know that!_ They thought in a panic before Honoke coughed.

"Y-Yeah, I met him when my father brought him over once to introduce us. We were good friends when he went to the Academy and stuff." Honoke said as Naruto grinned.

"Okay then, come on Iruka-sensei let's go to the birthday party!" Naruto said, energy back to full. Both Iruka and Honoke mentally sighed in relief. The three-made-four walked towards the Akimichi compound with smiles on their face, with the exception of Naruto who bore a grin on his. Choji ran off ahead with Naruto not too far behind him as they raced towards the compound.

"So, how have you been Iruka? Been a while hasn't it?" Honoke asked as they watched the two kids playing around. Naruto seemed to be getting angry with Choji's attitude, but they could tell neither were really meaning it and they were just enjoying the other's company right now.

"Yeah, it really has...sorry to hear about Kishu though...if only I was there to help..." Iruka said, guilty over that as Honoke pat him on the back and shook his head.

"There wasn't anything we could have done about that. It was her choice to become a citizen after..." Honoke sighed, unable to bring himself to talk about it. Iruka didn't push but agreed with him. It wasn't much, but the two sat on a tree nearby before Naruto got impatient and went to look for them. The two smiled and revealed themselves, scaring Naruto.

* * *

The birthday party was going really well for the most part, seeing as Choji and Choza both welcomed Naruto with wide arms as friends, Iruka and Honoke also had fun too at the party, noticing that Kakashi was nearby watching the two smiled towards him, seeing him nod his head and giving an eye smile back in reply. Neither of them mentioned his presence, but they knew Choza also was aware of his presence nearby. Sadly, all great things always had to end, as what seemed to be a group of citizens started approaching the compound with faces twisted in scornful rage. The leader, what seemed to be an older man with no arm stared at Naruto.

"There he is!" He shouted to his comrades as Naruto looked in confusion and fear, even Kuruma was thinking of getting involved if it wasn't for Iruka and Honoke stepping to block the entrance. Choza walked forward as he terrified Naruto with the pure blood-lust radiating from him, even Choji was scared and took him and backed up.

"W-What's happening?" Naruto stuttered out in fear.

"I-I think it's better if we don't know." Choji answered back in equal amounts of fear. Soon a pitchfork collided with a kunai as Choza walked past Iruka and Honoke, glaring out at the villagers.

"What is the meaning of this!?" He demanded as fear struck into the hearts of the villagers. "First you walk in towards MY property and then you decide to attack my friends in MY home!? I hope you have an explanation or else I will sign your death warrant!" Choza continued on as the leader walked up.

"Sir, you're holding that damn-" He tried to explain before being flung across the road from a single punch from Choza. It didn't look like he was getting up anytime soon.

"Any other bright ideas? I'll let you off if you leave this very instant and don't come back. Five." He started counting down as the members scattered, when he got to three, everyone was gone. He sighed as he looked towards Kakashi. "Can you-" He asked as Kakashi jumped down, grabbed the unconscious man, and went to get the Hokage about this. Choza sighed as he looked towards the now scared party goers as well as Iruka and Honoke. He first addressed Iruka and Honoke, who both visibly sighed in relief when the villagers left, "Thank you for helping out, if you two weren't here, who knows what might have happened?" He said with his hands on their shoulders, smiling at the two of them before addressing the others. "It's all okay now, now WHO'S READY FOR CAKE!" He shouted to the cheers of everyone. The heavy atmosphere soon went away, not forgotten, as Choza brought out a giant cake with the number 7 on top of it. He placed it in front of Naruto as they now sat down at a huge dinning room table outside. Naruto gasped at the cake that reached as tall as Choza. "Make a wish Naruto." Choza said with a smile, watching Naruto struggle to reach towards the top to blow the candles. Taking mercy on the poor boy, Choza lifted him up to them.

"I wish to become Hokage, and make everyone my friend!" Naruto said with a grin as Kakashi and the current Hokage, Lord Third, walked.

"Really now?" The third smiled at Naruto and the group. He was happy to see Naruto having a great birthday instead of being alone, and as soon as he saw Iruka and Honoke, he could see how it happened. Choza and Honoke had been great friends ever since Iruka's Academy days under Choza's tutelage, so it made no surprise to see Choza hosting the party. Iruka most likely wouldn't have asked, so the Third knew it was due to Honoke.

"Yeah Old Man! I'll be the next Hokage and have everyone become friends with each other and stop the fighting and wars!" Naruto expanded on his wish as he blew out the candles. Well meaning laughter spread across as Choza put Naruto down. After cutting the cake, Choza gifted a huge piece (about the size of a standard cake at that!) to Naruto.

"Well you can't do that on an empty stomach can you!? LET'S EAT! HAPPY BIRTHDAY NARUTO!" Choza yelled along with most of the party goers, with the exception of Kakashi, the Third, Honoke and Iruka, who simply said it normally with a smile.

From there on, the party went great, and soon the day was nearing an end, the Third had already left to..._Handle_ the villagers was what he had said, though Naruto had some feeling that that it wasn't going to be as nice as he had put it. Iruka had to put some finishing touches on lesson plans and the like and had said the Academy classes would start sometime in the next few months, though he'll try to spend more time with Naruto. After that, Naruto had to say goodbye to Choji and Choza who had him promise to meet up again in two weeks, to which Naruto grinned as he noticed it lining up with his meets with Honoke, who looked crestfallen at how quickly he was found out, though he still carried a smile. Soon enough, the two walked from each other to their own houses.

"Hey Naruto, make sure you're up by ten and we'll start on some Taijutsu practice, you gotta be up really early for the full training, but at least by ten for a hour of training. If not, you don't get training!" Honoke said as Naruto nodded. He handed him an alarm clock, having it set since it was on its battery power, as well as a plug to charge it. "This way you can't say you didn't know the time." Honoke winked as Naruto smiled.

"I'll be up by eight then!" Naruto said as Honoke nodded before they went to their houses. Naruto set the alarm, turned it on, and plugged it in before going to sleep, happy over how the day had went.

* * *

**"WAKE UP"** The alarm blared to life as a very angry voice yelled at the sleeping Naruto, causing him to panic as he turned the alarm off. 8:10 the alarm said as Naruto looked around for who yelled at him, but couldn't find anyone. Shrugging, he instead sighed as he got dressed, excited and at the same time terrified for what training Honoke would put him through. A yawn escaped him as he knocked on Honoke's door, it opening to reveal a grinning Honoke.

"You're late." He said simply, having heard the alarm going off, he didn't mind as he himself could attest to the pain of waking to an alarm clock. Naruto sighed as Honoke led him towards a public training field. A sign nearby read "Training Field 2" as Naruto could see some teams honing their skills. Honoke led him away from that towards a small area with a simple training dummy. "I got permission to use this area to train you, but we can't disturb the other team or we will be kicked out." Honoke explained to a nodding Naruto. "Now I'm going to slowly show you the moves and have you try to do the same thing. Don't be annoyed or anything if you don't get it right away, it takes time." Honoke explained as Naruto nodded again. He took a deep breath before quickly doing a five hit combo on the dummy, being nearly invisible in the while from how fast he did it. He then slowed it down to being visible to see that he had punched twice with his right arm before kicking the head and twirling to hit with his left hand and finishing it off by using his right elbow. He then looked to Naruto who looked in both awe and confusion about what happened.

"Woah." Naruto gasped out when Honoke smiled.

"This is part of my style, I'm more just curious on if it suits you or not before training you up to that stage. It's called the Meni Fast plate style, a unique style that my father helped me create. Using the speed I have, I use my chakra to increase my speed and pull off precision hits on an enemy. It's akin to the Hyuga's Gentle Fist style, but a bit different since I don't have the Byakugan to spot the Chakra points of people." Honoke explained as Naruto looked even more confused.

"What's Chakra?" He asked to the laughter of Kuruma. "Excuse me if I don't know it! No need to laugh!" He yelled towards Kuruma. **_"You know I'm right here, inside your consciousness. Now you just look like even more of a fool!" _**Kuruma laughed some more as Naruto groaned. "Great so the voice is in my head..." He said as Honoke just stared at him.

"Cha-Chakra is...hmm...Iruka can explain that better than me honestly, but it's energy that flows throughout your body along a network. Now you can draw upon this energy to use Jutsu. It can be replenished with sleeping and eating like any other type of energy you use. Using Hand signs, we direct the chakra along our network to certain places to create the effects we wish to use, such as using Clones and shooting fire, stuff like that." Honoke explained, coughing in embarrassment as he just brushed off Naruto's weird comments to himself, not wishing to know why he did it. Naruto made a Hm sound as he though about it.

_"So I take it you're a part of my Chakra?"_ Naruto thought towards the mystery voice inside him. It seemed to shrug.

**_"You could say that, but not necessarily. My name is Kuaruma, if you want, I can try to help you access your Chakra, but you have to take it from there."_** Kuruma answered back with a shrug, wanting to see what would happen if he gave Naruto a push. Naruto nodded.

"Yosh! Okay Kuruma let's do this!" He said to the shock of Honoke. He looked pumped and energetic but then stared at Honoke in confusion. "Now what?" He said to the exasperation of both Honoke and Kuruma.

"Let's try something simple, this is called the Henge or Transformation jutsu, which is used to transform you into someone or something else in order to gather information on targets." Honoke said as he showed Naruto and directed him through each sign, carefully explaining what each one did as he did so before yelling "Henge Jutsu!" A cloud of smoke surrounded him as Honoke transformed into a perfect likeness to Naruto himself! "Pretty cool huh!?" He said with Naruto's signature grin.

"Woah you became me! Wow I look so cool!" Naruto said, dashing around and looking at the henge from all sorts of sides before Honoke changed back.

"Now you try!" Honoke said as Naruto nodded, quickly going through each sign.

"Henge Jutsu!" He yelled as the smoke surrounded him before seeing him transform into Honoke...ish. It was like seeing Honoke shrunk to Naruto's size, along with some of Naruto's characteristics bleeding through the disguise. "How did I do?" He grinned as Honoke henged into a mirror. "AGH!?" Naruto looked in confusion, not expecting to see a child-like Honoke reflected before both released their respective henges.

"Don't be that sad, that's a lot better than what I did when I first used it." Honoke smiled and put his hand on the shoulder of the crestfallen Naruto.

"Really?" Naruto asked as Honoke nodded.

"Yeah I was trying to come up with a special disguise for it, to peep into the girls room, and well..." Honoke nervously chuckled as he coughed a bit. "W-want to see it?" He asked as Naruto nodded. Honoke sighed. "Henge jutsu!" He said after repeating the signs. The smoke faded to show a girl-like Honoke with great big breasts, yet still having Honoke's beard and blackish hair. Where a ponytail once stood split into two great ponytails. Naruto screamed both out of shock and terror at the henge in front of him.

The training team came in and also screamed at the sight before Honoke released the henge.

"What the heck was that!?" Naruto nearly yelled again before Honoke sighed.

"Needless to say, it didn't go as planned. How about you try it?" Honoke asked as Naruto frantically shook his head. "You could try using it to prank people. If you get it right, men will mostly always fall for it, it's great for pranking people." Honoke added as Naruto gained a glint in his eyes. Kuruma was both annoyed and disturbed from the sight of Honoke's...Girl Henge. He gulped as Naruto pictured in his mind what he wanted to do.

"Henge Jutsu!" He said after showing the proper signs slowly. The smoke went up once more before it started swirling around Naruto. Honoke was interested as he watched in suspense. "Hi~" The smoke soon went to cover the legs and the ends of the big breasts that Naruto now bore. Honoke couldn't resist as Naruto said hi and his nose bled greatly as he fell back. Yup, indeed, Naruto's Sexy Henge Jutsu was born. Naruto looked in confusion as Kuruma sighed. _"Oh boy...Well he wasn't lying when he said men everywhere would fall for it..."_ Kuruma reasoned a bit as Naruto grinned. "I guess it's too much for you huh~" He said again, still in his henge.

"Too...sexy..." Honoke said, nose bleeding once more as he passed out. Naruto released the jutsu with a grin.

"Sexy huh? No idea what that means, but that's what I'll call it, Sexy Henge Jutsu!" Naruto said to no one in particular as he went to leave, before seeing the training team passed out from nosebleeds. He looked in confusion before grabbing Honoke and heading towards the Academy. He had to tell the Old Man about this!

* * *

The academy seemed to loom over the kid, with the Konoha symbol proudly shown at the front. And within its walls also hosted the Hokage's Office, which consisted of a desk stacked with paperwork, and that is where we find ourselves now. Naruto grinned as he burst on into the office, "Old man! Landlord-san taught me something really cool and passed out from how cool it was when I did it!" Naruto said as the Third mentally cried happily. _FINALLY SOMETHING TO DISTRACT ME FROM PAPERWORK! THANK YOU NARUTO! Wait...what's that about Honoke passing out?_ The Hokage looked in confusion as Naruto's words sank in, his eyes gravitated towards the unconscious Honoke, who still had traces of blood coming from his nose. "Why did he pass out?" He asked slowly out of concern, only to see Naruto's grin growing. _Oh Kami, what pain have I unleashed upon myself just now?_ He thought as his gut screamed that something was about to go horribly wrong. Naruto's hands were slowly weaving through handsigns before he shouted.

"SEXY HENGE JUTSU!" Naruto yelled as the Hokage face-palmed. _What has he been teaching the kid!?_ He thought out of exasperation until he saw Naruto. "So~ What do you think?" Naruto air-kissed as the blood gushed out his nose, sending him backwards. Naruto grinned as he removed the henge. "Heh, this really works! Even the Old Man can't beat it!" Naruto said proudly as the Third wiped his nose and pleaded for Naruto not to talk about it. "Maybe~" Naruto teased as the Hokage coughed and called security. "H-Hey! Old Man! What's that for!?" Naruto asked as Kakashi came in with a bored expression on his face. In reality, Kakashi was laughing his butt off, but couldn't show it out of respect for the two men that fell victim to Naruto's technique.

"Hey Naruto, what's this new technique of yours?" Kakashi asked as the Third begged him not to show it. Naruto's grin grew.

"Oh it's nothing..." Naruto said with a glint towards the Hokage. Kakashi chuckled a bit as well before deciding to spare the Third Hokage from further embarrassment.

"Okay then, well seeing as Honoke is down for the count, I think I can help out a bit for the rest of the day. Still impressive how you came up with the jutsu after his terrible execution of it. I bet you can improve upon it as well to make it even more powerful, but that's for another day." Kakashi stated calmly as Naruto looked at him with bright curious eyes before looking crestfallen for some reason.

"Sorry I did that to them, the Old Man still has important paperwork to do and Honoke was supposed to teach me Taijutsu and start teaching me some shinobi history..." Naruto seemed oddly remorseful of his actions as Kakashi sighed.

"It's fine, it taught them not to underestimate you now didn't it?" Kakashi seemed to smile as he ruffled Naruto's hair. "I'll help out with the training for today as Honoke and the Hokage recover from your jutsu." Kakashi said as Naruto's mood immediately improved. "But know that I'm going to push you hard and far with this, don't let me down." Kakashi warned as Naruto nodded.

And so began the most exhausting day of his life, Kakashi did not lie when he said he would push the kid and pushed him into doing tons of physical exercise. Kakashi also began teaching him the beginning of Chakra control, which he sucked at as the leaf kept moving away from his forehead, much to Naruto's annoyance. Kakashi said to keep practicing it until he got it down and soon after, the day ended.

This routine kept itself up for the next few months, of just practice, training, and spending more and more time with Honoke and Kakashi when he actually showed up for the training. He still teased the Hokage here and there and actually found out about his crystal orb when the Hokage didn't hear him sneak in one day. Before they knew it, a month went on by. Naruto's taijutsu was getting to a really good level, enough to compete with most genin while he was able to control the leaf a bit, it wasn't perfect, but it was better than Kakashi expected since many struggled with the exercise. He started learning a bit about Shinobi history, but it was clear that Naruto didn't like this as much as time went on. He was a very active child, so Kakashi could practically hear the boredom that radiated off of Naruto as he listened to Honoke talk about Shinobi history. He decided to change it up after about a week of no progress.

"Hmm, how about instead of just hearing about the Shinobi history, we...play it out?" Kakashi asked to the confusion of Naruto. Kakashi sighed, "We reenact the history lesson of the day and think about what the person would have done in the situation given their personality and characteristics." Kakashi explained as Naruto looked actually interested, much to the surprise of Honoke as they nodded, "Okay, so we were talking about the battle of Hashirama and Madara, two friends with opposing views. Madara only cared for power and tended to use vicious means to get it while Hashirama was more like you. He cared for his friends and wanted to create an era of peace between people, he was a leader and the first Hokage of the Village Hidden in the Leaves. So when they went to the Valley of the End, their ideals, goals, and methods finally came to a head. Hashirama wanted Madara to stop his plans to conquer and destroy the world, while Madara wanted to get Hashirama out of the way. The two decided to fight with neither able to get ahead." Kakashi explained the lesson as Naruto instinctively connected to Hashirama's character. Before he knew it, his mouth opened.

"Madara! It doesn't have to be this way! Just head back, all will be forgiven as long as you quit this obsession of yours!" Naruto said, the words coming effortlessly. Kakashi looked shocked as he played along, not sure how to feel about the confusion found on Naruto's face.

"Heh, I'm sorry to disappoint you Hashirama, but I already hold the power needed to reshape this world. No more hate and misery will taint this world again." Kakashi said as Naruto seemed to not think that's what Madara had said for some reason unknown to himself.

"That's not true! Your idea of a world will destroy love and happiness as well as hate and misery, it's not real! How can you even call that a world worth living in!? MADARA!" Naruto yelled, his hands reaching towards his kunai for a reason that escaped him. Thankfully, Kakashi only had gave him a training kunai, but the threat still stood clear. Honoke looked concerned, while Kakashi just looked surprised.

"Hmph, if that's how it'll be...then come at me Hashirama, let's finish this once and for all!" Kakashi wasn't even talking at this point in Naruto's eyes, as Naruto's surroundings faded around him. He was on top of the twin peaks that would eventually become the Madara and Hashirama statues as Hashirama himself, facing the younger Madara. He dashed towards Madara with his kunai out as he was blocked by Madara's own kunai.

"It doesn't have to be like this! You can still come back!" Hashirama and Naruto said in unison. Madara scoffed in disbelief.

"Come back to being scorned, hated for my eyes? Thanks but I'll pass." Madara said, but some part of Naruto still said that was wrong. The words changed. "There's no way I can return at this point. I haven't reached my goal, and I will never return to that place." Madara said instead. Hashirama leaned back with gritted teeth.

"Then I'll make you see reason Madara! I'll bring you back if it's the last thing I do!" Hashirama said, flashing through signs that Naruto himself copied. "WOOD RELEASE: WOOD DRAGON JUTSU!" A giant wood dragon came out and went towards Madara, who quickly dodged, only to get blasted away from the explosion it caused. A hand landed on Naruto's shoulder as the scene faded away back to Honoke's apartment. Naruto blinked in confusion. "What happened to Madara? I-I was just fighting him..." Naruto asked, mostly confused himself as Kakashi sighed.

"Did you just see the battle between Hashirama and Madara?" Kakashi asked out of exasperated confusion as Naruto nodded. He repeated the signs that had summoned the wood dragon and yelled the jutsu name again to nothing happening. "I assume that was the technique he had started the fight with?" Kakashi asked this time. Naruto nodded again as Honoke and Kakashi looked at each other. "It was weird...it was like I was Hashirama. When you were talking, it felt like I could hear the words that Madara actually said...it was...weird." Naruto admitted in confusion.

"Let's try this again some other time, we don't know what would happen if you got attacked by Madara when you go into this state. You had came at me with kunai as if in a trance. You might hurt someone if it happens, but I think it's only limited to Hashirama, since you two have very similar goals and characteristics. Maybe you just related heavily to him?" Honoke said, as Naruto hesitated before shaking his head.

"Agh whatever it is I can't let it hurt me! I'm Naruto Uzumaki! My dream is to be the next Hokage and make everyone become friends with everyone and end the fighting and nothing is going to change that fact! Not now or later!" Naruto put his thumb on his heart. "And I swear on that!" He grinned as Honoke sighed in relief.

Kakashi ruffled Naruto's hair, "Yup, now get some rest, it's been a long day. It's already nearly time for you to go to bed." He said as Naruto smiled.

"Okay, see you later Landlord-san! Kakashi-san!" Naruto waved goodbye as he went to his apartment. As soon as they heard the door open and close of Naruto's apartment both of them visibly relaxed.

"What the...did he actually..." Honoke was still trying to come to terms with what Naruto had said as Kakashi leaned back, mask off as he sighed.

"I don't even know, but if there's one thing I know about Naruto, he's going to surprise people. I managed to capture the signs that he used and I'm thinking of taking it to Tenzo to see if Naruto was right, if he was...then I don't even know at that point..." Kakashi admitted aloud, afraid of a wooden dragon actually coming out if Tenzo performed the jutsu. He hoped that Naruto was wrong or else there would be dozens of questions. "This is an S ranked confidentiality conversation at this point probably, we can't let someone find out about that at any costs." Kakashi stated to the nodding of Honoke.

"Most definitely, my lips are sealed. Hopefully it's just a crazy imagination, but I doubt it would be that simple honestly..." Honoke sighed as he said it. Kakashi had to agree as he put his mask back up.

"Well I better get going, need to test this and hope that it's just the crazy ramblings of imagination. Tenzo had been unable to recreate Hashirama's Wood Dragon Jutsu as he didn't know how to do it, so if Naruto's right on this..." Kakashi sighed out of exasperation, "This will be one crazy week for us all..." Kakashi finished out of frustration as he shunshin'ed out of the area towards the Academy. Honoke looked towards Naruto's apartment in worry, hoping that he was wrong for his own sake.

The night past in tension as Naruto finally fell asleep, having only heard mumbling and being unable to understand it. Kurama on the other hand, understood the words and looked towards Naruto in curiosity. **_"Apparently I was right to help you out here...who knows what would have happened had I not stopped you back there that one day..."_ **Kurama wondered along as Naruto found himself in front of a giant fox, with thin wooden gates separating the two.

"Where am I?" Naruto asked out of confusion.

**"Ehh, I'm that voice you kept hearing."** Kurama shrugged. Naruto looked a bit confused, but it soon turned to awe.

"You look awesome!" Naruto said as Kurama smirked a bit from the praise, "I mean you're a giant fox and it looks awesome...Kurama right?" Naruto sheepishly laughed as Kurama nodded. "Let's be friends!" Naruto suddenly said with a grin as Kurama shrugged.

**"Sure, but I'm only going to help a bit, no sense of helping too much and destroying your body from chakra overload."** Kurama casually said, enjoying the fear that went over Naruto's face.

"Wait...what now?" Naruto said quickly, unable to hide the fear in his voice.

**"Relax, relax, I'm not going to do that. I'm actually pretty curious on helping you, but right now you're nowhere near strong enough to remove this seal and the like, so I can only help you a tiny bit. I'm not going to do anything to put you in danger or anything you know."** Kurama laughed from Naruto's fidgeting.

"O-Okay." He said as Kurama turned around a bit.

**"Now get some rest, I don't like your alarm clock blaring while you sleep still."** Kurama seemed to glare a bit as Naruto sheepishly laughed again. Kurama let the words sink in as Naruto's eyes widened, looking very much like a deer in the headlights of a car.

"Oh Kami, you were the one who yelled 'Wake Up' all those times were you?" Naruto realized as Kurama grinned viciously. Naruto gulped as he slowly walked away. Kurama rolled his eyes at Naruto's childishness.

**"Relax for crying out loud. I'm not going to hurt you or anything. We're friends, right?"** Kurama asked as Naruto nodded, holding his fist out. Kurama looked at it in confusion, having not seen him do this before.

"It's called a fist bump apparently, I saw Choji and Shikamaru do it before to show that they're friends, so I wanna try it!" Naruto said as Kurama brought up his paw and pushed Naruto's fist with it. A smile went to both of their faces as Naruto faded from the area, falling asleep in happiness. Kurama was content, but was still going to yell at him if he didn't wake up to his alarm. Kurama didn't know why he was so nice to this human, but he scoffed at his thoughts. Who cares at this point, he was interesting and still finding new ways to surprise him. His ego still inflated a bit from being called awesome, Kurama fell asleep with a smile on his face.

* * *

The night came and went, with both Naruto and Kuruma having sweet dreams until an alarm blared once more to signal it being eight o'clock, Naruto smacked the snooze button a bit harder than he meant to, but still sleepily. Kurama nearly yelled before he yawned and got up. _**"Well I'll be..."**_ Kurama grinned as Naruto shrugged. "Yeah yeah Kurama, I'm actually getting up for once...I know." Naruto dismissed the words as Kurama snickered a bit. **_"Wonder how long this will last, will the world be destroyed? Will the moon turn out to be an ancient goddess hell-bent on making all the Chakra in the world hers?"_** Kurama asked mockingly as Naruto couldn't help but laugh himself. "Yeah right!" Naruto laughed out as he made his way to the mirror, both him and Kurama looked and blinked. "Did I always have these markings on my face? My eyes look a bit different too...?" Naruto looked confused as Kurama shrugged, both noting that Naruto's body did that too. "Wait how did you do that? Are you able to control my body now?" Naruto asked out of confusion. **_"How am I supposed to know? This is news to me too!"_** Kurama replied, equally confused as Naruto in this mess. "Well whatever the case, let's just be careful on that, we still got training to do, right Kurama?" Naruto asked to receive a nod from Kurama. **_"I guess I just get to train alongside you now, how troublesome, as a certain Nara would say."_** Kurama snickered out. "Yeah, meeting Shikamaru was an experience wasn't it?" Naruto snickered himself, before noting the time. "Oh no! We're running behind!" He nearly yelled as he hurried along with his shower and getting clothes and ready, before heading to meet Kakashi and Honoke in Training Field 7 (apparently the people of Training Field 2 no longer wanted Naruto around, so Kakashi offered the training Field that was reserved for himself. At least that's the official version, it turns out that the people of Training Field 2 wanted to see the Sexy Henge Jutsu more for some...purposes that Kakashi, Honoke, and Kurama didn't want Naruto to know, so they moved to Training Field 7 in private.)

"You're late." Honoke smirked as Naruto tried sneaking into the field. "Also if you wanted to sneak, go around the back and enter through the trees, it might have made you late, but you could claim that you been there the whole time and I just didn't notice. Then again, you would need the Tree-Walking Jutsu mastered before you can do that now don't you?" Honoke's smirk stayed at the annoyed Naruto.

"Not my fault the tree decides to make me slip off." He pouted as Honoke chuckled. "So where's Kakashi-sensei?" He asked to the pouting of Honoke.

"You call him by his name and sensei yet I'm still Landlord-san?" Honoke pouted as Naruto rolled his eyes.

"Okay Honoke..." Naruto dragged it out, seeing the hopeful look on Honoke's face. He smirked. "san." Both of them burst out laughing from the clear baiting Naruto was pulling.

"Still better than Landlord-san I guess!" Honoke laughed out.

"So what if I call you Landlord-sensei?" Naruto couldn't resist as Honoke bonked him.

"Nah, use Honoke-sensei or Honoke-san." Honoke said as Naruto rolled his eyes.

"Hai, Hai." Naruto dismissed as the two laughed again. The laughter slowly faded out as Naruto looked somewhat annoyed with a side of worry, "But seriously, where's Kakashi-sensei? Usually he's here by now." Naruto asked as Honoke sighed.

"He's probably not showing up today, he had an important mission come up last night and told me to just have you keep practicing the Barrage Style and your Tree-walking skill. He figures if you have your Chakra control up..." Honoke lied effortlessly as Naruto sighed and finished the sentence.

"Then I can learn the jutsu during my time in the Academy, correct?" Naruto asked in what appeared to be pure practice and sarcasm rolling off his tongue,Honoke nodded with a smile.

"Yup. So let's get to work." With one final nod from Naruto, the two went a bit further in where they saw another kid around Naruto's age struggling and falling the Tree-walking challenge. His black hair seemed to spike up in random directions but the symbol on his back was unique. Naruto looked in confusion, having never seen the symbol before other than when they were heading towards the Akimichi restaurant.

"Hey! What are you doing here!?" Naruto yelled carelessly, the boy seemed to ignore him as the tree launched him off again. Naruto growled in annoyance, but Kurama simply watched the two. Good entertainment didn't come cheap and he was interested on what would happen. Naruto tried to run up to the kid who went for a punch. Naruto ducked and swept him instead. The boy tried getting back up, but had a kunai placed right above his neck, "Now talk, what are you doing here?" Naruto demanded at a lower volume than before. The boy hmph'd.

"Why should I tell you, you're annoying." The boy answered as he tried to grab the kunai, to which Naruto moved it down south with a menacing grin on his face. The boy's eyes grew in terror, "O-Okay, I was just watching you practice that tree-walking thing and wanted to try it!" He said, not wanting Naruto to press down where he was. Naruto smirked victoriously.

"See, was that so hard?" He asked sarcastically before jumping back. "My name is Naruto Uzumaki, what's your name?" He extended a hand out to the boy as the boy instead swatted it away and got up himself, annoying Naruto in the process.

"Hmph, nothing you need to know." The boy tried as Naruto had a glint appear in his eyes. He grabbed the kunai menacingly.

"Really now...?" Naruto asked, becoming angry at the arrogance that the boy was portraying. **_"Really now, I seem to remember a certain little YOU that was just as arrogant. Maybe you're mad at him for being a past you?" _**Kurama wasted no time with the jab as Naruto groaned a bit. _"I mean you're not wrong, but he's acting like he's better than everyone else! I never did that!" _Naruto countered as Kurama rolled his eyes, _**"Yeah right mister I'M GOING TO BE THE NEXT HOKAGE BELIEVE IT! Isn't that acting better, just via words and not actions?"** _Kurama struck back as Naruto didn't have a response that time. **_"It's fine in the end, just don't go getting hypocritical on me. Frankly, this kid's getting on my nerves too."_ **Kurama admitted with a shrug.

"O-Okay, jeez no need to threaten it twice you stuck up prick!" The boy said as Naruto's eyes twitched a bit, having never moved the kunai from where he was jumped back. The boy didn't notice nor care, "It's Sasuke Uchiha, and I frankly don't care if you stay or go, just leave me alone already." Sasuke seemed to pout as he continued the exercises. Naruto growled a bit in annoyance.

"Hey, how about you learn some manners!? I'm going to be the next Hokage, Believe it! What's with the constant dismissal of my presence huh!?" Naruto finally had enough of the attitude that Sasuke was portraying. Kurama's eye twitched as he was annoyed after just telling him to not get hypocritical.

"You, the Hokage!? Yeah right, that'll never happen." Sasuke dismissed as Naruto went to punch him, Sasuke leaned against the punch and quickly flipped Naruto over. Surprising Naruto in the process.

Honoke watched as the two went at it with each other with a chuckle and a smirk. Rivals tended to help progress by a lot, and seeing that both were around equal footing, even though the two never admitted it, was perfect motivation to push them both forward. He couldn't help being worried by Sasuke's name though... _The Uchiha huh? Guess that's the younger brother of Itachi...oh boy that's going to be interesting to watch. Hopefully Naruto can pull him out of revenge..._ Honoke sighed as he had heard about the situation. Even the Third was worried about the whole thing, but if Naruto could befriend and get Sasuke off that path, it would be for the best. Honoke decided to just stay back and watch, waiting for Kakashi to get done with the test.

* * *

Hours past as the two challenged each other to insane task after task to prove their worth. Eventually, they set their sites to a race to the top of the tree, and both were making good progress now based on the rivalry. Before Naruto could barely break halfway, and now he was nearly 75% of the way there, with Sasuke not so far behind him. Kakashi walked on by with Tenzo behind him. Honoke groaned a bit at the sight.

"Oh Kami, it's S rank now isn't it?" Honoke whispered pitifully as Kakashi nodded with the same resentment towards it, "Hey Naruto, Sasuke! Take a break for a bit, we got guests!" Honoke shouted as the two ignored the order, instead continuing their race to the top of the tree.

"No way! I'm going to beat him and show him who the stronger between us really is!" Naruto shouted back to the annoyance of Honoke.

"If you don't get here now, no visits to Uncle Choza!" Honoke said as Naruto grabbed Sasuke and jumped off the tree.

"H-Hey what's the big idea!" Sasuke yelled as he tried escaping Naruto's grip. Kurama smirked and added a bit more strength to it. He had grown to appreciate the food Choza always put out and he wasn't going to let this stuck-up brat ruin that.

"Yes Honoke-sensei?" Naruto acted super obedient to the point that Honoke couldn't resist laughing a bit from the sight. Choza's food worked wonders at creating a threat against Naruto, thankfully Naruto didn't eat it all the time so he didn't have to get as bad as the Akimichi, and he still ate Ramen most of the time, just not all the time thankfully. Naruto seemed a lot healthier as a result of this, and didn't look so malnourished. He had even grew a few inches as a result, however he had the start of the Akimichi gut as well, much to their equal annoyance. Naruto's eyes wandered a bit before meeting Tenzo's in confusion, "Hi?" Naruto asked out of confusion, much to Sasuke's snickers. Naruto...accidentally pushed him to the ground., which started another fight as a result. Honoke bopped both of their heads before it got too bad.

"Yamato here is a user of Wood Release and wanted to...test something that you had said before Naruto." Kakashi cautiously explained, not wanting Sasuke to be a part of this discussion. Sadly the boy refused to leave and instead looked at Yamato/Tenzo as if he's a challenge to be overcome. Yamato took no mind to this and instead looked at Naruto. "Now Naruto, do you remember the signs?" Naruto shook his head to Kakashi's question. "Well I had, and told Yamato here about them, let's see the result." Kakashi smirked a bit, unseen by Naruto or the others.

Yamato used the proper hand signs a bit slowly as he yelled, "Wood Release: Wood Dragon Jutsu!" A wooden dragon, smaller than Hashirama's came out as Naruto looked in awe.

"I told you I saw it happen!" Naruto looked downright proud, even though both Honoke and Kakashi looked downcast. "Why are you guys so sad, did you not believe me?" Naruto asked as the two shook their head with identical sighs.

"It's not that, it's more we didn't want you to be right. Since now that puts a heavy burden on you to help Yamato out as well as keeping this a secret from others. It puts a huge target on your back that we can't let others find out about, lest you get hunted by the world." Honoke explained, Naruto looked afraid now and could understand what they meant.

"W-Well, maybe it was a fluke!?" Naruto seemed downright scared at this point, having learned about the power scales that ninjas could eventually get to. He was just seven for crying out loud!

"Sadly, no one would believe that you just so happen to find one of the long-lost techniques of Hashirama on a fluke, it's too unbelievable." Kakashi countered as Naruto sighed in defeat.

"Then I have to get stronger, and get the strength to protect myself and Kurama!" Naruto said with a grin, not noticing the flinches from Kakashi, Honoke, and Tenzo. Sasuke looked a bit confused at the three, but they quickly hid the expression. _Who's Kurama? The only thing this kid has in him is a stupid amount of stubborn guts, probably just some imaginary friend or something knowing this idiot. _Sasuke thought to himself with rolled eyes. He was not a fan of his so-called 'Rival', at most, he was a nuisance he could do without.

The day ended soon after that for the most part, as Sasuke tried to split from the group, to which Naruto ran on over to his new friend, "How about I walk you home? No one should be out by themselves!" Naruto said with a grin, to which Sasuke ignored him. He tried again before Sasuke slapped his hand away, "Hey, what's the big idea!? I'm just trying to be nice!" Naruto yelled.

"BE NICE TO SOMEONE ELSE! I DON'T WANT TO SEE YOU, DON'T YOU GET IT!?" Sasuke screamed back, he turned and ran away, unaware that Naruto had tears coming out of his eyes.

Naruto vaguely noticed the tears and the touch to his shoulder. "Don't worry Naruto, he'll come around, he's just not used to the idea of friends yet." Honoke tried to reassure him, knowing how painful that was. Naruto numbly nodded, wiping his tears before following along.

The night went by slowly, as Naruto kept thinking about what he could have done better. Even Kurama was silent, trying to find out why the kid felt familiar to him. He vaguely remembered the Uchiha clan, but his memories have been spotty since his time with Kushina. He sighed as a result, knowing that Naruto needed some help...he just didn't feel like he could be the one to give it out.

The door creaked open, but surprisingly enough, it wasn't Naruto's. **_"NARUTO! WAKE UP!"_** Kurama yelled, something was wrong about this! Naruto jolted awake from his friend's words as he rushed outside due to Kurama's yell, seeing Honoke's door open. He rushed towards the door in fear and looked towards the room. Honoke sat at his desk, facing the door for future apartment owners. Naruto screamed his name before he noticed the red that surrounding Honoke. As well as the fact that Honoke wasn't moving at all.

"HONOKE!" Naruto screamed to the heavens, having many of the neighbors waking up from the noise, Kakashi himself also came over and upon seeing Honoke, instructed everyone to head back to their rooms, closed the room off, and stared at Naruto.

"Naruto!" Kakashi swiftly said to the crying kid, Naruto was unresponsive, "Naruto, we'll get to the bottom of this I swear it, but you have to calm down!" He tried again to no avail. Naruto's eyes shifted a bit. What were once pure blue eyes with a shade of crimson shifted to have a swirl of the colors, with neither color able to see on top. Purple eyes stared at Kakashi.

"**Who did this to him!? WHY!? He was an honest man, WHY WAS HE MURDERED!?**" Kurama and Naruto yelled at Kakashi, but all Kakashi did was swiftly knock Naruto out in response.

"I don't know...but we'll get to the bottom of this." Kakashi said to the unconscious kid, happy no one was around to see their tears. "I promise you...we'll solve this." He continued on, mostly to himself.

* * *

_**And that's the chapter folks! Honestly Honoke was a blast to write, as it was nice to give Naruto a nice father figure for once. I think of it as, if Kurama didn't stop Naruto's sentence, canon would have happened for the most part, since Honoke would have been pissed and not wanting to help. He was going to call him an old fart that didn't know what he was doing. Also honestly I was surprised myself with how Honoke came out, I expected a 50 year and was left with someone around Iruka's age, it was hilarious. Also Honoke was gonna die early on in the end, I kinda figured to do that from the start since it would cause a good motivation for Naruto during his Academy years, but he was originally going to die 3 days before the Academy started so it's either bump down the age needed for the Academy by a year, or have it have a "Pre-Academy" level or something, which I bet would be how I'll go about it. Hinata would be in the next chapter helping Naruto and Kurama go through the "Whodunit" battle of finding Honoke's killer (Who I bet you already can see based on Naruto plot!) **_

_**Also the whole Hashirama bit was more a jab at how odd it is with Naruto being his...reincarnation, so I put that as a little jab (as well as the actual jab being towards that whole moon plot, Naruto got weird man.) but don't worry, it's more just flashbacks towards Hashirama stuff if Hashirama memories are mentioned, nothing more or less. As you saw, Naruto himself can't use Wood Release or anything, so don't worry bout him being broken af. On top of that, as you saw, he actually beat Sasuke in a sense. I more chalk it up to him having more experience than Sasuke rn, and that Sasuke underestimated Naruto at first, since you saw he promptly beat him back. Instead of Sasuke being much stronger, this time they're more on equal footing. It's also after this moment that the Omake with Sakura would come in, as she would have helped him with his anger after he ran off from Naruto.**_

_**Now I leave it to you, the readers, to see if I continue on this. Honestly I have plans up to the end of the Academy arc, but from there I'm not sure what I'm going to do about it. As you saw, it's both canon while not at all canon, since while it's following canon a bit, it's somewhat different due to the influence of Kurama inside him. I more say that this is basically Killer B Naruto style or whatever, since I mostly based it off of how Killer B said his relationship with Eight-Tails was (I can't remember the name rip) But yeah, enough rambling from me XD.**_

_**Leave a review on what you liked or didn't like about it, and also say if you want to see more from this or not. I'll count favorites and follows as wanting to see more as well, so don't feel pressured about it! I can't wait to see your answer, well, see you next time.**_

_**This is Char, or whatever I decide to be called (still working on this lol) signing out! See you next time!**_


	2. Ramen Solves Everything!

_**A/N Okay guys, wow, that response was astounding to me, and while some of it could be counted as it being a Naruto fic and a new one, I'm shocked that even when it left the first page, it was constantly getting more views. Thanks so much for that, and just as I promised, here's the next Chapter! I'm going to keep working on this as I promised, and I'll keep towards the 10k chapter stuff, but don't be surprised if sometimes it's less than 10k words, I'll try my best to keep to my rules. Where we left off, Honoke had just been found murdered by Naruto, and now we get to have fun with the aftereffects of that, as well as finding some things about Honoke he didn't tell Naruto! Try guessing who murdered him, I'm actually pretty interested in your guesses to be honest, now before we start, I'm going to do something a bit new to me, answer reviews in the chapter!**_

_**Joe:**_ _**"**__**Interesting story continue it as soon as possible please**_"

_**Me: Don't worry Joe, I'm on it, the absolutely insane response to Chapter One nearly brought me down to joyful tears. I never expected this outcome and the fact that at the making of this, it had 2 reviews, 13 (THIRTEEN! That's the highest amount of any of my stories!) followers, and 9 favorites, also the most of any story I've written to date! It's just downright incredible. Don't worry, the test was a resounding success! On top of that, it keeps growing each time I look back at the Manage Stories page! Thank you guys so much!**_

_**Party in LA: "I felt inclined leave my review for this story. I enjoyed it and I hope you continue with it. The concept is intriguing to say the least and how you already established a relationship between Naruto and his Landlord in one chapter says a lot. My only complaint is that I thought you introduced Sasuke too early but nothing major here. Can't wait to read the next chapter."**_

_**Me: I'm so glad that you felt inclined to leave a review, it helps a lot and I can't say thank you enough! Honestly as I stated in the end note last chapter, if it wasn't for that being a mega chapter (Even though those are most likely going to be the size of regular chapters on this story lol) he wouldn't have died that fast. But it was more that he went through what he was supposed to go through, he was meant to die then because a certain someone might or might not have been listening in to them, but I'm glad you think I wrote Honoke well enough for it! I was trying to make it seem like Naruto had a Father figure in Honoke, as Honoke and Iruka both did their best to help him out. (Remember, he trusted Iruka as a brother figure, Kakashi and Jiraya as his senseis) so I wanted to try something with Honoke as an OC. Don't worry, his death will DEFINITELY have an impact on Kurama and Naruto, as well as Iruka and Choza, which you might or might not see this chapter, who knows? Also yeah I was also thinking Sasuke was a bit early, but at the same time, I can totally see Sasuke snooping in on Naruto after his birthday party fiasco. Then to see he training on some cool stuff you never even heard of? Yeah I think Sasuke got in at the right time. On top of that, I wanted to set a REASON for their rivalry, what better reason than Naruto met Sasuke before, thought he was a emo prick, and wanted to beat him up?**_

_**One more thing before we start this chapter. I have only watched Shippuden up until Team 7 reunites at that cave system place with Yamato. That's legit all my experience with watching Shippuden, everything else I know was from the manga, which I had read up until about where Gai died opening his eighth gate? I think it might have been a bit further, but I honestly don't remember because that was back in middle school to ninth grade for me, I honestly remember next to nothing about Part II(I can't be the only one that calls sequel shows season two or stuff? Just me?) of Naruto, and the little things I do know come from the wiki. I was only doing the Kaguya and Hashirama stuff mostly as nods to it at how bloody insane Naruto got towards the end of Part II, and since I know next to nothing about it, and I know I can never do the insanity justice, I don't know if I'll even continue on past Jiraya training. I'll leave that all up to you guys, but know that if I ever go for it, it will be under a sequel story thing called Two and the same: The era of the Shippuden or what have you, I don't know yet, but my point stands. I'll leave this story off on a satisfying conclusion I bloody swear to you all, because I also hate open-ended stories that don't close a story on a good ending, I might leave a few strings untied just in case I do write that sequel (Honestly I would most likely epilogue chapters if you don't want me to do that, and that's perfectly fine by me, just to close the story up on a satisfying conclusion.) I'm just letting you know of all of this now so you can have it in your minds while you read through this story. I don't want an answer on that sequel or not until I'm nearing the very very end of this, I'm just letting you know back here as these are my personal doubts as well, and I want you to know that I'm not an author that will hide things from you in these Author Notes. I'm being honest here, and I hope you guys believe me on that.**_

_**Well with all that out of the way...W**__**ithout any further rambling from me, let's begin the next chapter!**_

_**Edit: I noticed a missing Bold Italics for Kurama, and went back over to do that as well as split Kurama and Naruto's chat since people seem to think that's better and I can't really say I disagree.**_

_**Now for the concept art of the chapter. The Pre-Academy wasn't originally a thing. The whole thing with Honoke was supposed to happen 3 days before the start of the Academy. The problem was that the author never specified the age of which kids entered the Academy, nor did he mention for how many years they stayed there! With how Naruto went through and attempted the graduation exam 3 different times before the canon attempt, I assume it was 4-5 years in total, with or without one year of practice with it. Thus, I figured 5 years was too long and then thought, "Well, the Hokage would want to protect him, as well as view that the apartment was no longer safe for Naruto, their **_**_Jinchuriki, so the Pre-Academy came as a result for wanting to protect the heirs and prepare them faster in case they got hurt. Thus, in order to make the Pre-Academy not look as just its main purpose of protecting the clan heirs, they decided to also put the citizens that would have been in his class as well. At least, that's the whole gist of it. This was supposed to cover Hinata's situation as well, but I felt that the ramen was a better place to end it at tbh, since I wanted to have these two as happy chapters with a bit of sinister events happening in the background._**

**_Another one, Orochimaru may or may not be the guy there, I just haven't decided yet. Remember the Anbu died pretty easily, but that's only because he was writing a message to the Hokage, which will come into play later on in the story after the Academy Arc. I personally feel that Orochimaru wasn't there, but was using a proxy, but I would love to hear your theories on the chat. We only got to see what the Anbu saw, so hey._**

* * *

**Two and the Same**

**Chapter Two: Ramen is the answer to everything!**

Shock. That was the best way to describe how Naruto felt right now, as if a hundred volts of electricity constantly ran through his body. Numbness spread through his body, to the point where not even Kurama, the famed Nine-Tails beast known for killing hundreds if not thousands of people, would talk either, the expression shared between the two. Kakashi was talking to Iruka, wanting to get Naruto away from Honoke's...**_"Death. Don't shy away from it Naruto."_ **Kurama placed with a bit colder of a tone than he personally intended. Death was barely the word to describe it, it was a downright massacre... Blood had sprayed his walls to the point that the image burned itself into Naruto's brain. He couldn't even break down or anything, as if the tears turned to stone in his eyes. Numbness spread as he felt himself being moved by someone.

The world seemed to ripple itself away in favor for Kurama's cage. The caged fox watched as Naruto fazed through the cage walls and sought comfort from him. Kurama sighed as he wrapped himself around the young boy, watching as he started bawling against his fur without a care in the world. Kurama wasn't really in the mood to care as he felt Naruto's body being led towards a room, sat down in front of a man with gray bangs that looked around the same age as Iruka. Kurama sighed as he looked back towards Naruto, who was hugging his fur and bawling some more, looking nowhere near stopping.

The man coughed slightly, unaware that Naruto simply was not in control of the body at the moment, and Kurama simply didn't want to control it without Naruto's permission. It felt wrong somehow, even thought some part of him demanded to kill Naruto and gain freedom, he just...couldn't bring himself to it for some reason that alluded him. Was it in those missing memories of his? Even then...would he want to kill Naruto if he got them? He shuddered a bit at the thought before turning his attention to the man to distract from his own troublesome thoughts. Naruto didn't even notice Kurama's turmoil as his bawling didn't stop. Kurama sighed a bit at this, "My name is Mizuki, and I brought you here to see what you know of what happened to Honoke." Mizuki asked neutrally, no emotion at all portrayed upon his face, but Kurama knew better than that and saw the hidden rage that consumed him. He couldn't hide from a real beast like himself, and was nothing in comparison. Kurama didn't like him one bit from his tone, but couldn't tell if that was from that weird bias of Naruto or whatever it was that made Kurama care for the boy or if it was from his own distaste for liars. Either way, the fact remained...he really didn't like the man. Kurama stayed silent as Mizuki growled lightly from annoyance, "Are you even listening!?" He snapped quickly, but still to no response. He walked towards Naruto as Kurama growled in warning. The man rose an eyebrow and a smirk grew upon his face. Mizuki walked towards Naruto once more.

**"You touch Naruto and I will rip you apart slowly and painfully.**" Kurama snarled out as Mizuki leaned back in preparation of grabbing Naruto and shaking him. Mizuki visibly flinched back before the smirk returned upon his face.

"Oh ho ho, so you really are the-" He tried to say before Iruka opened -slammed- the door before glaring daggers at Mizuki. Kakashi stood a bit behind Iruka, looking at his book that even Kurama couldn't hide a tick of disgust over seeing, but was still openly paying attention to Mizuki.

"And what do you think you're doing Mizuki? We been trying to find Naruto ever since he had went to the bathroom, so why is he here?" Iruka said, much to Kurama's surprise. They went to the bathroom? God the shock was worse than he thought to make it where he wasn't even aware of his host's movements. Mizuki quickly put a smile on his face that caused another growl to come out from Kurama, who was struggling to contain his weird hatred for the man, while also trying to comprehend said hatred.

"I had found him standing still outside the bathroom, I figured I'll bring him here and ask what happened with Honoke." Mizuki calmly explained as if he wasn't threatening to punch Naruto and Kurama mere seconds ago. Iruka sighed in relief, but looked at Naruto in concern. Kurama scoffed at the idea of him believing this man, but found himself unable to disprove any of it. Mizuki walked out of the room as Iruka walked up to Naruto.

"Are you okay Naruto?" Iruka asked out of concern as Kurama shook his head.

**"Sadly Naruto isn't okay, for now I'm helping him out. He's pretty messed up after last night and is currently bawling his eyes out on me."** Kurama admitted, much to the shock of Iruka, **"Relax, I have personal stakes of helping him out, I'm not going to go out of control and stuff, but watch out on that Mizuki guy, he looked like he was about to harm Naruto before smirking when I interrupted him. I trust you enough to know of me, so don't betray that trust." **Kurama continued as Iruka nodded firmly, now knowing that Kurama was on their side. He didn't fully trust him, but he trusted him enough with Naruto's well being.

"Okay..." Iruka seemed to pause as Kurama rolled his eyes.

**"Kurama, now can we get on with it?"** Kurama answered sharply, noticing the flinch from Iruka he sighed, he didn't want to scare him. **"Sorry, I guess I also just want to rip apart whoever did that to that man..."** He apologized, much to the shock of Iruka. Kurama could apologize!? Kurama snorted, fully knowing what Iruka probably was thinking as Iruka stuttered a bit before coughing.

"O-Okay Kurama, well we're thinking of adding a new addition called Pre-Academy level as to start the Academy a year earlier to prepare kids towards the Academy. We were thinking of enrolling Naruto into its first year if that's okay with you. Is it?" Iruka asked as Kurama seemed to ponder. They were asking him over this? Heck, they were asking if that was _okay with him!?_ The irony wasn't lost upon the demon fox as he struggled to not burst out laughing at it.

**"Give me a bit, stay put." **Kurama instructed Iruka in the most neutral of tones, who nodded as he saw the eyes fade away towards a soulless gaze again, inferring that was probably when neither soul was in control of the body. Kurama's gaze had a sharp crimson overlaying the blue undertone, while Naruto's was the exact opposite look, with a sky blue overlaying a deep crimson red. He chuckled a bit from that, they were basically two souls in the same body, working together. It nearly made him forget that Kurama was responsible for tons of murdered folk with how he treated Naruto...nearly.

Kurama on the other hand was back towards Naruto, who still bawled on his fur. He raised a paw and tried gently laying it on Naruto, who looked up towards the Fox Demon, tears still rolling down his face.

**"Naruto, Iruka was wanting to ask something, I talked to him a bit and he was wanting to offer you to be enrolled in the Academy a year early." **Kurama started, noting that Naruto was immediately trying to protest he held up a paw finger in a universal sign of 'Wait', **"I know you want to find Honoke's killer,"** Naruto nodded firmly at this, wiping his tears a bit as he did it, **"But you need to get better as well, think of it this way. You can use the time at the Academy to be able to look around for clues about it. You got me here, and I'm sure if you ask that Old Fart and Gray head, you can get some help around it. It'll be a good experience for you to also make new friends. Maybe Choji will be there too." **Kurama listed out, watching the once tearful face slowly become more and more excited, leading a smile to reach its way onto both of their faces. **"And know you aren't skipping out on Choza days, he makes good food that I know you like too. I'm not letting you skip out on your meals!"** He winked with a hearty laugh that most would find terrifying, and a sharp grin to meet it; however, to Naruto, it was a sense of safety that came from it, a sense of home. **"Now go on, Iruka's probably getting tired waiting on you!"** Kurama said as Naruto nodded with a grin, finally fading away from the caged area, Kurama felt two presences nearby in the cage and looked towards the seal, but couldn't see a thing. He looked confused for a bit, but shrugged it off. Probably wasn't anything important.

"Naruto?" Iruka asked as he saw the blue eyes fill back those gray-tinted eyes. Naruto blinked a bit before grinning.

"Did I worry ya?" Naruto asked to the laughter of Iruka, who proceeded to hug him. "Iruka-sensei?" He asked in confusion before hugging him back. Soon Iruka moved back with a sheepish look on his face. Naruto looked as if he just remembered something, "Uh, Kurama was saying you wanted to enroll me in some Pre-Academy thingyabobber, right? Sign me up!" Naruto grinned with a thumbs up, completely missing the shocked look on Iruka's face fade into a content smile.

_So The Nine-Kurama really can take control here and there, but looks to be really nice to Naruto, even comforting him...I should take them to the Hokage._ Iruka thought to himself, finishing with a determined nod. "Hey you two, can I take you to the Hokage? I might be able to pull a few strings to get you and a few friends of yours in it. We just need both of you to help out. That okay?" Iruka asked as the colors in the eyes seemed to combine into a deep violet, as if the two layers swirled together, but neither said a word, just nodding with a smile. As soon as it had appeared, it moved back towards Naruto's blue, "Okay then, then let's get going, okay?" Iruka said with a smile as he led Naruto out of the room, Naruto looking towards Mizuki, who only smiled towards him. Naruto smiled back, not entirely sure why Kurama seemed suspicious of the man, he didn't look that bad. Iruka led the two, one?, towards the great big tower in the middle of the Academy. Soon they traveled up a spiral staircase, and were beckoned in by the Hokage himself.

The room looked...neat, organized. Just the same as other times Naruto had visited it, yet there were a few extra additions added to it. One was the great giant stack of papers that covered the desk that he sat at, the second was the hat he wore wasn't on, instead it had been put on the chair as if he took it off for a break. Iruka and Naruto carefully sneaked around the desk to see, as well as hear, the Hokage snoring away in sleep. Naruto's eyes carried a glint as he grinned, bringing out a marker. Usually Iruka would say something to stop him, in fact he thought about doing so this time too, but even he was slightly annoyed that the Hokage snored away on such an important day. Tomorrow they would be graduating the Academy students to see who past, failed, or would be placed in different fields. It was a hard day for everyone and to see him snoring insulted Iruka with envy. He put his hand on Naruto's shoulder and nodded. Naruto had froze for just a second before his grin grew into a look of menacing pranksterism. He silently uncapped the black marker. Naruto avoided the hat, but nothing else survived the wrath of a markers-carrying Naruto. The papers were the last ones touched as Kurama himself had a plan for that. But the Hokage's clothes, face, neck, arms, almost everything in the room was acceptable grounds for Naruto's marker, at the very end, he walked in front of the desk and smirked. He slowly did the signs for a Jutsu he didn't know, but Kurama explained to him and at the end took a deep breath. Iruka's eyes grew as he walked away, having recognized it with a chuckle. _Never knew that Kurama was a prankster as well, those two really are the same..._ He guessed it was Kurama who showed him the jutsu as Naruto blew out the breath, causing a light wind, but a strong enough wind to knock the papers clean off the table, all towards the sleeping Hokage.

Sadly the poor man still slept, much to the annoyance of Naruto, who took a deep breath, went straight to the Hokage's ear, and performed the jutsu again. He jolted with a shiver rushing down his back from it, before noticing the room in a mess, as Naruto was finishing another jutsu he knew well. Naruto grinned as Sarutobi was struck with the power of Naruto's Sexy Henge Jutsu yet again. Blood splat from his nose in a rush as he fell backwards, past out. Iruka hastily looked away in time, but even he couldn't hide the start of a nosebleed that came on. Naruto burst out laughing from the well timed jutsu strike, while Iruka just groaned in annoyance.

"Great, now we get to wait until he wakes up again..." Iruka whined, before looking at Naruto with a sigh, "Ramen?" He suggested as Naruto responded with a resounding YAHOO! The fact that it didn't wake Sarutobi scared Iruka more than he wished, knowing that it wasn't him actually dying or anything...but still being disappointed over him falling for such an obvious henge transformation. The two of them moved to leave, talking about grabbing ramen, but then Sarutobi groaned. Both Naruto and Iruka glanced at each and slowly, as if they were the second hands of a clock, ticked their heads towards where Sarutobi was. The man deadpanned at the two as they mechanically, tentatively, walked back on over to the man.

"Old man?" Naruto asked bravely, only receiving an annoyed glance from the man. He soon fell silent aside from the mental laughter from Kurama and himself.

** _"Wow he looks absolutely stunning with that! What's that phrase everyone says but never really means Naruto?" _**Kurama was laughing, nearly panting from it, as he asked Naruto.

_"Teamwork makes the dream work?" _He suggested, much to Kurama's amusement.

** _"Yeah, yeah, that thing! Pfaahhhh that was good! We sure showed him, mister Old important Fart!"_** Kurama seemed to slur with his laughter. Naruto didn't dare think it, but Kurama was onto him as he glanced, nearly glaring, at the young boy. He quickly looked away towards the window, surprising Sarutobi with the look of fear on his face.

"Yes Naruto?" Sarutobi asked, not expecting the response Naruto would give in response, though it looked like Naruto failed to hear him.

"KURAMA STOP ACTING LIKE YOU'RE DRUNK ALREADY! I'M TRYING TO NOT LAUGH IN FRONT OF THE OLD MAN!" Naruto suddenly yelled out, much louder than he intended, but Iruka had expected this, having activated the placed privacy seals quickly when they walked over towards the window. Naruto's eyes soon turned gray again as Naruto ran from an very annoyed Kurama.

"**I'M NOT DRUNK YOU BRAT, GET BACK HERE!" **Kurama blurted out next, as they noticed the eye color seemed to shift from blue to red over and over again in a certain rhythm.

"KURAMA STOP CHASING ME ALREADY, WE'RE MAKING A SCENE!" Naruto blurted out again as that seemed to stop the mental chase.

**"Wait what? Oh S- THEY CAN HEAR US!?" **Kurama hid his curse well, surprised that they accidentally were using the mouth of the body.

"AGHH KURAMA! NOW LOOK AT WHAT YOU DID!" Naruto seemed to pout with the whine in his voice. Sarutobi couldn't help but try and hide his snickers at the two. Iruka wasn't fairing much better himself in that department, as when Naruto yelled that out, it seemed to kick-start the chase all over again. Sarutobi and Iruka decided to let the two have their bit of fun while they talked, appreciating the entertainment, and payback in terms of Sarutobi, that Naruto and Kurama by extension gave him.

"I take it that this is what you wanted to tell me?" Sarutobi smirked, gesturing towards the soulless body, currently occupied with its occupants chasing each other around rather than messing with the body itself. Iruka rolled his eyes with a smirk when he noticed the multitude marks on Sarutobi's body.

"You have to admit..." Iruka started, seeing a threatening glare from Sarutobi he sheepishly laughed before changing subjects, "T-tt-t-t-that they make a good pair! Yeah, t-they seem to make a good pair and it seems they're both becoming friends with each other." Iruka...subtly changed the subject, Sarutobi chuckled a bit before continuing on.

"So it seems that unlike with...that Kurama and him seem to...share the body so to say. That'll make an interesting tale. Is there anything else you want to say?" Sarutobi skipped over her name with a glance towards Naruto, who seemed to still be having a chase with Kurama if the rapidly shifting eye colors were anything to say about it. The yelling seemed to finally go down to a whisper of the two yelling at each other, much to the amusement of the two next to him.

"Yes, Naruto wants to go ahead with the Pre-Academy decision. We should have the ones we were planning to put in next year all be in this program, if only so no one suspects the true purposes of it." Iruka explained, noticing Sarutobi seemed to sober up a bit from that news.

"Ahh...indeed. Are you certain this is for the best? It would mean that we would have to keep this Pre-Academy level in, even past this year. We could run it as a testing program, but that might raise suspicions even higher." Sarutobi explained, but before Iruka could open his mouth, they turned to Naruto, who carried both of the eye colors in his eyes. He grinned.

**"Of course it is! We won't let you down you old** Man/**Fart!"** The title seemed to be split between Man and Fart, and he had a pretty good feeling who said which given Naruto's history of nicknames.

"No need to call me an old fart Kurama, but know that Naruto might be in danger if we do it, are you certain about this?" Sarutobi asked towards the Nine Tails, wanting to prove something that Kakashi and Honoke had placed in their reports once.

**"If they want to try it, they would have to knock me dead before they get through me! I won't let anything harm Naruto! He's my charge and I'm not going to let him drop that easily...it would hurt my pride.****"** Kurama seemed...a bit undecided on the reason, but his motivations shown through with his words, Sarutobi's eyes, along with Iruka's, rose from the startling claim he made. **"So go ahead with that Pre-Academy whatever you call it stuff, I'll be training Naruto myself as well, so it's great to have regular humans get him started on the way there. I can only train him if he becomes strong enough to handle it, and right now he's too weak! I know the real** **reason you're doing this isn't at all related to getting us stronger and the like...you're doing it because of that landlord fart aren't you? We're helping out, regardless on if you accept it or not, so don't you DARE try to stop us!" **Kurama growled near the end, still angry that he had let his guard down and gotten him killed. A small part of him wondered if he was losing his touch. _Whatever happened to the Great Destroyer of Konoha? You're just a failure!_ He growled a bit more, mostly at himself as Sarutobi put his hand on his shoulder, shocking the two of them.

"Okay then, how about this. I'll let you work with Kakashi and find clues related to the Academy, when Iruka and myself will look for clues towards the body and apartment. Until then, I'll be having you stay over at the Akimichi compound with your uncle Choza, (_**the uncle stuff is on purpose, Honoke meant Uncle as part of Choza's name, while the Hokage means of it as just a standard uncle and not an extension of the name. Difference of intent.**_) while we work with this. Also, please try to make friends with your classmates if possible, since five years is a long time together to go through and I never want to see you lonely Naruto. You are a kind boy, even capable of converting Kurama, if anyone can do it, it's you. School will start the day after tomorrow, so just be aware of that. That'll get you more used to the home as well as for us to determine those that will be teaching your class." Sarutobi explained with a smile, ruffling the hair of Naruto, much to the two's chagrin. They still smiled in the end as Sarutobi continued, "...just please for the love of Kami don't actually have your gut swell. Eat in moderation Naruto." He sighed and mumbled out, much to the chuckling of the others present.

The seals went down as it revealed both Kakashi and Tenzo...Yamato, whatever he decided to call himself today, standing right at the edge of the seal. Kakashi looked up.

Silence befell them until Tenzo smirked a bit, "Do you need a wet wipe Hokage-sama?" He said calmly as laughter burst out from the group. Kakashi didn't show his laughter and Tenzo looked like a stone brick while he mentally laughed his butt off, but Sarutobi quickly saw through them as he unleashed unrivaled rage towards them all, quickly and effectively shooing them out of the room. The four stared each other as they heard Sarutobi slam the doom, mumbling about childish adults. The four started snickering as they walked away.

"That was some perfect timing Yamato." Kakashi chuckled, seemed he was going by Yamato right now, "I'm more surprised that he didn't immediately try to pound us into next week for that one." Kakashi admitted with a shrug. Naruto, as seen from the blue eyes currently shown, looked towards Kakashi. "Yes Naruto?" Kakashi asked.

"Who do you...Do you need any..." Naruto started, ending with a groan, "Who do you think killed Honote-sensei?" Naruto asked before mumbling, "Might as well start with that one..." The silence was baffling and the question cleanly cut through the elated mood that was going through. A groan came from Kurama as he looked at Naruto.

**_"You really don't understand Tact do you?"_** Kurama asked to Naruto's sheepish face.

_"Sorry Kurama!"_ Kurama could only shake his head at this. Kakashi finally coughed, snapping their attention back to him.

He sighed, trying to collect his thoughts before looking straight at Naruto, "I don't know enough to even begin answering your question there Naruto. And this really isn't something you should help with." Kakashi explained, putting a finger up when he saw the dual-colors flare up in protest, "Sadly I have no choice but to accept your help if Iruka isn't saying anything to agree with me saying to keep out of it." Kakashi sighed in annoyance, "Honestly I don't have any suspects yet, since we yet to even get to the autopsy, which might be delayed for quite a while, for some reason the doctors keep delaying it and it's starting to get annoying. Sadly we don't have anything we can do to help with it...unless..." Kakashi said with a glint in his eyes that the dual-colored Naruto grinned to. Kakashi said nothing more but Iruka continued on with a glare towards his superior.

"Not that I mind you helping, but you are NOT breaking into a hospital or anything. Don't you dare you two, if you get in trouble it will fall down on all of our a-" Iruka tried to say as Kakashi covered his mouth. Iruka rolled his eyes, "butts, all of our butts." he said sharply instead, "Instead, try to find what you can without being illegal. I'll be checking the apartments later on to check on if we can find some evidence. Sadly, I bet someone already cleaned up the scene after you saw it, just to hide the evidence itself. Whoever it is has connections, but I managed to ask the Aburamas for some of their jutsu bugs in order to bug the room in case someone came and disturbed it. They agreed and left some there and told me a while ago that someone moved in, but proceeded to kill the bugs. By the time ANBU arrived to check it out, whoever it was was gone. It's annoying, but I have to hope they left something behind." Iruka finished in annoyance from that fact. He groaned lightly before Kakashi stepped back into Naruto's attention.

"Now Naruto, Kurama, you know that this is going to be pretty dangerous, right? Whoever killed him is probably also after you guys. Heck, we don't even know why he died!" Kakashi tried saying, seeing the dual-colors sharpen themselves.

**"SO WHAT!?"** They shouted in union, halting Kakashi in his words, **"It doesn't matter what danger awaits us! We'll face it head on, BELIEVE IT!"** They continued on as the eyes dulled a bit from that, as if the union was taxing upon them, which it probably was. They had seemed...stronger during it, but it was still vastly incomplete between them.

Kakashi and Iruka smiled from this. "Yeah Naruto, we believe it, just...be careful, okay?" Iruka asked as he held a thumb to his chest once more.

"I swear I'll come back alive! Believe it!" Naruto grinned as Yamato coughed, noting they were still in the stairwell this whole time. They finally got a move on, with Kakashi and Yamato deciding to wait a bit to make sure they weren't all caught together.

"He's one interesting kid." Yamato said bluntly, much to his partner's chuckles.

"He is indeed..." Kakashi replied.

* * *

"Ramen!" Naruto sang the word on repeat for the whole way over to the popular Ramen shop that Iruka took him too. If Honoke was the one who introduced him to Yakiniku Q, then Iruka would have been the one that introduced him to Ichiraku Ramen, and as much as he liked Yakiniku Q, he couldn't say that it beat Ichiraku Ramen ever. He dug in immediately after his bowl was delivered. Kurama was the complete opposite, claiming that Yakiniku Q was superior to Ichiraku Ramen any day, which led to many fun-natured arguments between the two over the debate.

"So Naruto, what do you think about the Pre-Academy? You looking forward to it?" Iruka asked as Naruto demolished his ramen bowls one after another, frightening Iruka as he had offered to pay. _Oh Kami he's going to run me dry!_ Iruka panicked as Naruto finally looked over to him after the fifth bowl, only because that had been the last of the original order. He had asked for more right after.

"Hmm...I guess it's cool? I just don't really know how to feel when that means I would have to be in the Academy for five whole years instead of four. It just scares me a bit honestly...five whole years, at that point I would be twelve years old, and I might not be any closer to finding out what happened to Honoke..." Naruto's hands rolled into fists, nearly scratching him if not for Kurama subtly moving them so he could focus on the conversation instead of healing. Iruka noticed this with a worried look on his face, not liking the fact that the usually hyper-active knucklehead Naruto was...strangely remorseful, strangely silent, and most importantly...playing around with his favorite ramen. He was losing the motivation to eat his ramen after the third bowl, with it taking longer and longer to finish up until right after this fifth one, even though he had asked for more. Iruka sighed as he noticed that he barely even ate any of his first bowl.

The silence was deafening with that sigh and Iruka didn't know what to say. Ayame, having noticed the two not eating, had walked over with the intent of yelling at them to eat or go before noticing the tense atmosphere that befell them. Iruka bit his lip lightly as he thought about what to say, only for them to hear Ayame herself sigh.

"Look, I might not know what's going on here, but...I know you Naruto, you like to shoulder the guilt of everything that happens around you even if it's too much for you to carry alone." Ayame started, looking towards the downcast Naruto, "Trust in them! They're only there to help you, not hinder you in any way!" Ayame continued on, almost helpless in the situation.

"I know..." Naruto started, but Ayame wasn't done yet.

"If you know, then do it! I know you're better than this Naruto, you have the trust of so many people that if the villagers got off their idiotic ideals and actually got to know you, they wouldn't hate you, they would praise you as a hero! You have a heart of gold that drags people in, and while you don't have many yet, it's only going to grow and get stronger! I know it! So instead of feeling down about yourself and what you can't do, focus on what you CAN do instead! If you do that, then you will reach your goals in no time!" Ayame smiled as she said it, happy that the smile and optimism was returning to Naruto's face who grinned in appreciation.

"Thanks Ayame! More ramen please!" Naruto asked as Ayame nodded and went to work. Iruka smiled towards Naruto, happy to see him back to his normal happy self, it didn't matter what the world threw at him, he would take it, grow stronger, and use that strength to protect his friends and family.

"One more bowl of ramen please!" Iruka himself said, hearing a Hai in reply as Naruto grinned at him, and Iruka smiled on back.

* * *

The hours passed on by as the two enjoyed their ramen, and soon the sky had set, and night had fallen. Iruka's wallet cried in pain as Iruka could only pay for some of the meal, with Ayame and Teuchi putting the rest on Naruto's long running tab with a understanding pat to his back.

* * *

_Elsewhere in the Village, near the Academy._

"You know your mission, correct?" A sinister voice seemed to hiss his words. Another person laid cased in the midnight moonlight as a very familiar character.

"Of course, I won't let you down. Naruto won't graduate from the academy if I can help it." Mizuki answered back toward that shadowed figure, "You can trust me...Orochimaru." Mizuki grinned as he knelled down on the ground.

"Quiet!" The newly dubbed Orochimaru hissed threatening at him, "We're in enemy territory you idiot! We don't know who's watching us, now go!" Orochimaru continued, before the shadow disappeared into the ground, slipping out into the night.

"Of course." Mizuki said with a smirk, even though Orochimaru himself was long gone. A kunai went towards a hidden ANBU agent, who fell down dead. "I'm well aware of idiots trying to interfere." He smirked, before getting to work.

* * *

Naruto yawned as he found himself in the cell-like room inside of him once again. He smiled as he looked to Kurama. "Hey Kurama!" He waved as he got closer, noticing the worried look on his face. "What's wrong?" He asked.

**"I'm not sure exactly...just a gut feeling honestly." **Kurama sighed, nearly sending Naruto into a panic over how tame Kurama was, which led to Kurama lightly ("THAT STILL HURT!") bopping Naruto on the head. **"Relax, no need to panic over something so insignificant. I called you here more so we could practice actually dragging your Chakra out and using it in the form of jutsus. For the most part, you have a huge amount of personal Chakra, not even including mine, but because of that, your Chakra control sucks." **Kurama casually and calmly stated, as if it was simple fact...which it was. As mad as Naruto was for bringing that up, Kurama was completely correct in his statement, no matter how much Kakashi and Honoke had trained him, his Chakra control still remained almost completely terrible, to the point where he struggled with the leaves and tree climbing exercises, as cool as his race with Sasuke was, he had yet to be able to even go back all the way to the top since that day, and even halfway was a huge struggle. He had temporary broke through his Chakra control barriers that day, but not truly grown into using it. Naruto sighed in defeat, leading to a smirk to take Kurama's face, **"And that's why we're here, in the center of your body. I'm going to teach you how your Chakra Network works, and since we're here, it should be much easier to control your Chakra, since you're in the body itself and not outside."** Kurama explained as Naruto nodded. He had felt powerful here for some reason, which if Kurama's statement was true, which it was, that made sense when put in that context.

**"The Chakra Network is the system in which your body pumps its Chakra around, going through to each part of your body. These have specific points of Chakra, where the Chakra is stored, powered up, and taken to whichever part of the body needs it the most. When you were doing tree-climbing, it went to your feet, when you were trying to do the leaf exercise, it went to your head, then to your hands when you went for manipulating it around. It was a matter of which part needed it." **Kurama began, before looking towards Naruto.

Naruto was downright confused, it was so obvious it hurt Kurama as that was the simplest part of the explanation to get through. A groan escaped Kurama as he asked him what he was confused about. "If the Chakra points are where everything is stored and stuff...then where are we?" Naruto asked, surprising Kurama with how thoughtful it was.

**"W-Well we're in the very center, a Chakra swirl that your father placed at your stomach in order to seal me at. It is at the very core of the network and integrates my Chakra with yours." **Kurama desperately hid the stutter, but saw the glint in Naruto's eyes. He glared harshly at Naruto as the boy wisely said nothing about it.

"So this is the center of my Chakra? Then why does it look so..." Naruto struggled to find the word for it, but Kurama had a pretty good guess as to what he meant.

**"Empty?"** Kurama saw Naruto nod to that, **"Well that's because this is more a physical representation of the Chakra field, and is used to give a physical place to house me. The only reason it looks like this is because that's how it was designed in order to fit around my size and demeanor. Most Chakra centers, or swirls, don't have a physical realm to step into, since it would just keep the Chakra compressed and ready to use. You don't have to worry about that because of the insane of Chakra we possess, thus it's much harder to control the Chakra within you." **Kurama explained, still seeing a slightly confused face on Naruto.

"So basically because you're here, my Chakra is forced into a physical form to house you, yet we have insane levels of Chakra that make up for that, and those factors together make my Chakra control so bad?" Naruto summed it up as Kurama nodded, "WHY DIDN'T YOU SAY THAT TO BEGIN WITH!?" Naruto yelled out of frustration, soon carefully backing up to a frustrated Kurama.

**"WHAT DO YOU THINK I BEEN TRYING TO EXPLAIN TO YOU!?" **Kurama yelled back, Naruto screamed as the two chased each other for the remainder of the night.

* * *

_**And there we have it at the end of Chapter 2. It might not seem much compared to Chapter 1, but I figured that the next real event is the day of the Pre-Academy, since you would have the scene with Hinata, as well as a very interesting scene concerning what happens when Naruto enters class (that should be fun!) not all the parts of Naruto were of intense scenes, as there were relaxing chapters too. Kurama's scene basically is kinda lifted off of Tales of Demons and Gods, in based on how the Soul Realm works. I figured the two systems were pretty similar and used it as a baseline for how Naruto's Chakra Networks work. I figured that Kurama was sealed in the center since the Chakra manifested itself as a physical place, making it harder to control and get Chakra from (Since you would have to turn it back into normal Chakra, then manually move it around) add that on top of massive inhuman Chakra levels, and control gets sloppy. Basically my explanation to how the Chakra Control works. Next Chapter is mostly going to lean around the Pre-Academy, and how that impacts everything, as well as introducing the Team Seven.**_

_**We might even get to see a Sasuke POV! Look forward to that!**_

_**Sorry for the length not being on par with the Chapter 1, but I bet this is going to be around the length of chapters for most of the story, with some heading longer depending on circumstances.**_

_**Once again, THANK YOU for all the wonderful support, it really inspires me to keep writing and get this story out to you guys, and lets me know that you care on seeing where this goes. I just hope that my writing satisfies your appetite for this story! Well, until next time guys!**_

_**-Char **_


	3. Pre Academy Arc - Hinata

_**A/N I honestly have nothing more to say other than this. Did you really expect Kurama to let Naruto be a dumbass? If you have any questions on Naruto's current personality being way more calm and stuff, as well as more shyish, it's more based of a combination of having Honoke's support as well as Kurama himself. He's not as outspoken because the two would either yell (Kurama) or bop him aside the head (Honoke) all because he was too loud. He's more trying to understand the volume and amount of words that's okay, thus his personality at the moment. Other than that, the only thing is that I'm not sure how accurate my portrayal of the Jutsus are, but I'm rolling with it. Again, I have yet to really touch Naruto Shippuden past episode...7? So all I know is Sai exists, Yamato exists (Apparently he has the First Hokage's cells in him? Can't remember his backstory from the anime all the way tbh.) and Sasuke is a fucken asshole. Other than that? Nothing.**_

_**Also I highly doubt the Hokage, no matter how much he loves Naruto, would ever let him just steal the super duper important scroll, especially without seeing at least one ANBU. (Seriously, if you think about it, how the hell did he steal the scroll? Was literally NO ONE watching the place? That just sounds all kinds of stupid and I doubt the Hokage would actually fall for such a stupid and simple ploy, heck, it wasn't even confirmed in the anime/manga if the scroll was even the real one! For all we know, that actually was the true honest to god scroll, which holds a shit-ton of forbidden jutsu. All that does is just make the 3rd Hokage look like a bloody idiot, and that's not even including how he casually forgave Danzo's and Orochimaru's betrayal. I think of him as a somewhat smart guy that made mistakes, so hopefully you guys can see that via the writing when or if we get to a place where I can actually write the 3rd as something more than "Ah shit more paperwork..." to show you guys that.) So I decided...let's switch it up a bit. Now when you witness this...Mizuki is plain fucked, and it's gonna be bloody hilarious watching it happen.**_

_**With all that said, I hope you enjoy the chapter!**_

_**Edit: I touched up the chapter a bit, but not really as much as I had for 1 and 2, been trying to help fix the whole annoyance with Kurama's text and the like, and I'm mostly going to see if this helps end that confusion or not (Hoping it does since fanfiction only has 3 different modes being bold italic and underline!) so we'll see I guess XD**_

_**Well the side fact for this chapter is this went completely different from what I thought I would write. I was wanting to introduce Shika and Ino this chapter, but then I guess my brain wanted more fluff from Naruto and Hinata. Honestly I didn't expect to make so much fluff this chapter, as that was my first time writing the sort of thing across all of my previous stories. It was actually really fun to write, and I think if anything else, Naruto X Hinata is real for this story, but probably wouldn't go too far in this story since this is only going to go up until the end of Chunin exams and the like.**_

_**Hope you enjoy the chapters and the like!**_

* * *

**Two and the Same**

**Chapter Three: Pre Academy- Hinata**

Naruto didn't know how to feel as he woke up in the Akimichi compound. He looked around in confusion before seeing Choji as he opened the door, looking just as tired as he was.

"Today's the big day! What do you think about this whole Pre-Academy thing? Apparently it's more a new type of training in order to help prepare us for becoming Genin." Choji said, Naruto having stopped him from grabbing chips from his bag as he talked. It was normal at this point between the two, as Choji tended to forget what he was talking about while he ate. Naruto let his arm go when he finished.

"Hmm...I'm pretty excited honestly, but I can't help but being a bit nervous. Why suddenly create this right before the school year started, heck they even did it drastically earlier than usual as a pre-rec program type deal to go into the school year itself." Naruto inferred, causing a wide-eyed Choji to look at Naruto in what looked like mock fear.

"Who are you and what have you done to Naruto!?" Choji seemed to gasp in shock as they both burst out laughing at the joke.

"Oh har har har." Naruto rolled his eyes as Choza decided now was the time to come out. He figured to let the two boys have their fun before revealing his presence, the two turned towards the large robust man.

"You know that it starts in the next Fifteen minutes, I suggest getting ready." Choza smirked a bit as he watched the two become shocked from fear, he threw a uniform towards Naruto, "Don't worry Naruto, I didn't forget your situation either, but I wasn't kidding on that, thankfully we live close enough nearby to make it not late, but I wouldn't risk it on your first day." Choza laughed heartily as the two fearful kids dashed towards the showers, with Choji having beaten Naruto, causing him to have to wait. He decided to grab breakfast first, to which Choza gave the full nine yards of it. Naruto and Kurama both sweat-dropped to the display, and knew where the Akimichi gut came from, even with Naruto being over so often, it didn't stop the sight from being jaw dropping. Naruto ate as he waited for Choji to come out, and even though eating only from one bowl of the meal, he still felt his gut grow slightly. A grimace met his face as he and Kurama both knew that he would have to do laps again to get rid of it. Choza rolled his eyes at his so-called nephew's actions, having realized a long while ago what the issue was.

"You know that there's a technique we have to help you with that? It's not something that you should abuse or else it could backfire on you, but once in a while shouldn't be too bad." Choza offered as Naruto sighed, waving him off a bit.

"It's fine, it helps motivate me to work out more, I just have to be careful of it." Naruto said calmly as Choza smiled.

"If you say so." Choza relented as Naruto went to move towards the shower again, seeing as he heard the door open, and immediately went in afterwards.

**_"So, the gut swelled a bit from just a small amount of the food, jeez how are they still alive from all of that food they eat."_** Kurama said, being both impressed and mortified by the Akimichi clan.

"From my understanding, I think it's how their bodies are designed, and since their clan techniques are based around those techniques, they have some way to turn the calories to strength or Chakra. Other than that, I think they just like the taste of the food." Naruto thought a bit before saying. Kurama just stared at him. "What!?" Naruto said, not appreciating the blank stare that Kurama gave him, one that spoke of pure disbelief and awe.

**_"When did you get so...professory?" _**Kurama said, still unbelieving of Naruto's explanation since it made sense, and that didn't fit the headstrong kid he had grown to know. Thankfully, or sadly, Naruto growled a bit and begun yelling at Kurama mentally as to not cause a scene.

Sadly, this all took a while, and soon Choza knocked on the bathroom door. "You have five minutes or you'll be late!" He told the two, who rushed through the rest of the shower, rushing through putting their clothes on as they rushed out the door.

"See yah Uncle Choza!" Naruto yelled out as he rushed out the compound, rushing on over to the Academy right nearby. He saw Choji ahead pretty far, who looked tempted to stop at a food place. He grabbed his friend by the collar and rushed towards the Academy. "We're gonna be late Choji!" Naruto seemed absolutely nervous as he had just now rushed on the grounds with his friend, but while he released Choji, he noticed something outside his vision. Choji ran on ahead, looking back in confusion as Naruto waved him onward. Choji nodded, trusting his near brother, before running inside the Academy.

"Heh! This all the Hyuga heir has!?" Naruto heard kicking from three separate sources, and while Kurama tried convincing Naruto otherwise, Naruto kept pushing towards them. Sticking to the trees as told from Honoke, he watched the three bullies, one tall and lanky, one short and chubby, and one being what looked to be a three year old beat up a young girl. Naruto grit his teeth.

"Ha! You in the Academy? You're not even worth the bottom of our shoe!" The chubby one continued as Naruto had it, finally revealing himself with a punch to the tall one, sending him straight into a tree. He growled as the remaining two looked shocked from the act.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" He yelled in rage as the chubby one tried punching him, Naruto tried blocking it only to get hit in the place the sun doesn't shine by the three year old, leaving him open to a punch himself. He grit his teeth as the three looked towards him.

"Heh, and who's this one? I guess we got a new punching bag!" The tall one said, ignoring the blood that fell from his mouth, and the two teeth that were now missing, with looked like one that was so loose it might as well have been knocked out of his mouth. Naruto used his foot to twist out and proceeded to kick them away into each other, causing the three year old to be nearly crushed by the chubby bully. While they were distracted by that, the girl came and dragged Naruto up and away.

Naruto panted a bit, struggling to hold on, but his pain tolerance was still that of a kid, and the nut punch in combination of the gut punch knocked the wind out of him for a bit. He had a feeling Kurama wasn't healing these wounds, but didn't know why. (Kurama smirked, knowing more about Naruto's feeling about the girl than Naruto himself.) He looked towards the young white-eyed girl. "H-Hey, are you okay?" He asked, even as she carried him inside the building.

"Y-Y-Y-Yes, I'm okay!" The girl stuttered miserably, having a blush cover her face as Naruto looked shocked.

"O-Okay, u-uh, what's your name?" Naruto asked, stuttering a bit from the blush. Was she having a fever? (Kurama deadpanned at Naruto's thoughts. He couldn't have...oh Kami he actually was that dumb. Kami help him when the girl became older and actually confirmed what Kurama could see growing based on her eyes and Naruto's subconscious thoughts of _Huh, she looks nice._)

"H-H-Hinata." Hinata said, the stutters calming down a bit as she smiled towards Naruto, "W-What's yours?" She asked as Naruto grinned despite the pain, and got out of the hold to put his thumb to his chest.

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki! My dream is to become the Hokage and have everyone become friends with everyone!" He grinned towards Hinata, who's blush came back and deepened in intensity. "A-Are you sure you don't have a fever?" Naruto asked in deep concern as Kurama growled at him. _**"IDIOT!"** _Kurama said simply, not providing an explanation as Naruto looked in confusion.

Hinata didn't help things any as she passed out from Naruto grabbing her hands out of concern. Naruto grabbed her and put her on his back piggyback style (Mostly due to Kurama yelling that if he didn't, that he would force him to eat five bowls of Choza's cooking and work it off in an hour.) to the classroom. The two Chunin stared at him as he walked to the classroom door (At least, he thought it was? He didn't get to ask Choji which class they were in and they forgot to tell him the previous night. Naruto stared back at them.

"Hey is this the way to the Genin class?" Naruto asked as they nodded, "Great, sorry for being late!" Naruto grinned as he moved to go in, the two blocking him. "My name is Naruto Uzumaki! I'm a part of the Pre-Academy Genin Class so move out of my way!" Naruto glared at the two, who rolled their eyes, and proceeded to turn the kid to the door directly across. "...oh." He finally said, embarrassed as he apologized to the guards, who paid it no mind. He opened the door only to find a supply closet, and the door behind him suddenly closed. "HEY LET ME OUT DATTEBAYO!" He yelled as he banged against the door, figuring that the two guards had moved to block his exit. He heard the light groaning as he turned back to see Hinata slowly waking up. **_"Good going there Naruto! Now what are you going to do!?" _**Kurama snapped a bit, drawling out his liquid sarcasm at the kid, who was mentally berating himself along with the Demon Fox. He turned his attention to Hinata instead."H-Hinata! Are you alright? Some temes (_**Remember, Naruto used -teme for Sasuke, which literally just means Sasuke Bastard. Since the character himself uses it, I can as long as it fits the character)**_locked us in here!" Naruto explained as Hinata's blush hit full force.

_Trapped in a room...alone with Naruto-kun..._ Hinata thought as the blush became too strong again and she passed out again. "HINATA!" Naruto yelled in a mixture of confusion, frustration, and terror. Kurama just burst out laughing. "What's so funny!?" Naruto demanded of his partner, not caring that anyone heard him. Kurama looked to remove a tear as he slowly ended the laughter. **_"Oh Kami Naruto you are a riot with how dumb you are."_** Kurama chuckled a bit as Naruto growled, "What do you mean by that!?" Naruto countered as Kurama shrugged. **_"Let's just say Hinata has a crush on someone and let you figure out the rest." _**Kurama said as Naruto basically had question marks spawn all around him with how confused he was. Frustrated at not finding the answer to Kurama's riddle, (H_e thinks it's a riddle!? _Kurama couldn't help as the laughter went back in full force again, annoying Naruto as he ignored his Fox Demon friend.) he turned his attention towards the door. He banged it again and again, hoping to use strength to overcome it as he prepared for a shove, only for the door to suddenly open, causing him to fall down in front of Iruka and most of the class.

Who immediately saw Hinata passed out and Naruto on the ground having fell from a would-be shove. Snickers started spreading throughout the students, but Iruka was livid. "Naruto...what did **you** do." Iruka seemed to leak killing intent, not enough to phase Kurama any, (_**"**_**_It's like a little kitty acting like a lion. It's kinda adorable if downright stupid." _**Kurama shrugged.) but made most of the class flinch and walk away, with the sole exception being Sasuke, who instead became intrigued by the killing intent before seeing Naruto.

Sasuke deadpanned as he watched Naruto look towards Iruka and talk about how Hinata fainted and the like, as well as having been locked in the room trying to get to class. _Who is this dobe even trying to fool? Dobe? Huh, suits the idiot for doing this. Not one day in and he's already trying to get to first base._ Sasuke tsk'd at that invading thought as he tried not to turn around. _I'm not jealous..._ He denied, ignoring the feeling that someone was smirking at him, (Kurama wouldn't tell Naruto why he was smirking viciously at Sasuke as he desperately tried to convince Iruka on what happened.) It didn't help matters that when he turned around, there was about twelve of the 30ish people in the class who instantly tried, badly, to pretend they weren't just admiring Sasuke just now. He sighed, slightly annoyed as he noticed someone in the group that he wished was different from the rest. Seems he was wrong that night...

While Sasuke was going through his internal crisis, Naruto had sighed to Iruka, who merely smirked. "You are a bundle of trouble, huh Naruto?" Iruka said with a grin, the class annoyed as Naruto got off. "But I don't want you two late again, and that goes to you too Choji!" Iruka yelled towards the now flinching Choji. Who nodded with a deep bow. "Good job saving her Naruto." Iruka whispered to him, who grinned.

"No problem Iruka-sensei!" Naruto said as the two nodded. "So, what happened with class?" Naruto suddenly asked afterwards, causing Iruka to sheepishly chuckle.

"We kinda just released for lunch, and noticed the loud banging of that door, it looked like it was reinforced forcibly with Chakra, but you were doing some heavy damage to it either way..." Iruka said, having noticed the door nearly crash to the ground had it not been for the weirdly activated seals around it...it was why Iruka had believed Naruto, since the door never locked without those seals being active, and Naruto wasn't the type of kid to know seals, or use them like that. He had to talk to the Hokage about that later, but right now...his gaze fell towards Hinata, who Naruto picked up, piggyback style once again, ready to take her wherever Iruka needed her to go to help her. He instead put his hand over her face with a smirk. "She's fine Naruto, just passed out." Iruka said with a smirk. _Naruto...oh Kami please say he isn't-_ Iruka said, smirk falling into a shocked sweat-faced smile, as Naruto looked at him in confusion.

"She keeps fainting though, with these heavy blushes on her face. Does she have a fever?" Naruto asked, completely clueless, much to the class's dismay.

**_NARUTO YOU IDIOT!_** The entire class, along with Iruka and Kurama thought as one. How did he not notice that he was the one causing her to faint!? If his story checked out, he saved her from a group of bullies, had suffered injuries only to ignore them to ask about her health, carried her on his back towards the class, then got tricked into a small supply closet. Alone, locked up, just them.

Iruka had only one thought on his mind as he sweat-dropped, much to Naruto's confusion. _Hiashi is going to kill him..._ Hiashi, along with most of the clan heads, were not afraid or wary of Naruto, they treated him like other kids his age. Yet if Hiashi heard about what happened to the two, with them getting locked in a supply closet, together, and alone, for well over four hours...oh boy Naruto was going to die from that. Hiashi was just like Ino's father in that sense, with both being very protective of their children, much more in the case of Ino's father while Hiashi let his children mostly free and watched over them, but Iruka was afraid, terrified even at this. Kurama was also confused at this point, noticing fear suddenly spike in the Chakra flow of Iruka. Why, and more importantly, What was Iruka so afraid of?

"It's fine Naruto, if you ever get a call from Hiashi, avoid him as long as you can if possible unless I'm there." Iruka tried to tell Naruto, who had ignored every word after his own name. Instead, Naruto was trying to wake Hinata up, and failing.

"Hinata!" Naruto tried calling out once more before sighing, proceeding to lightly flick her head. The students, especially Iruka himself, paled as Hinata woke up, blush on her face again. "Sorry about that, I was trying to wake you up. We got out of the room thanks to Iruka-sensei! I'll help you with catching up with the content since it was my fault we got locked up in there..." Naruto apologized, determined to make it up to Hinata.

"N-n-n-n-No! Na-Naruto, y-you don't have to do that for m-me!" Hinata stuttered, blush firmly in place, as she tried to change Naruto's mind. Naruto simply shook his head.

"I'm going to be the future Hokage! That means owning up to my actions and taking responsibility! I had us miss class because of my own actions, so to make it up to you I'll assist you in what we missed!" Naruto declared, very loudly, to Hinata. It seemed like the rest of the people in the hall didn't even exist to him at the moment, Hinata blushed heavily, desperately trying to not pass out again, to which she finally succeeded. She instead simply hugged Naruto in thanks. Naruto smiled and hugged her back.

_LUCKYYYYYYYYY_ was the simple thought that consumed most of the class, all angry at how easily Naruto had gotten the Hyuga heiress in his grasp. And he didn't even realize it! Naruto only looked in confusion as Iruka groaned.

"Well, since you missed the beginning of class, you'll be eating lunch while we go through the lesson. Come on you two. Everyone else, enjoy your lunch!" Iruka said as the classmates started walking away with differing looks of confusion, envy, intrigue and pity towards the group of now three. Iruka led them to the actual classroom, which just so happened to be the door that those two guards were blocking much to Naruto's annoyance. Hinata and Naruto decided to sit next to each other in the first row, seeing as no one else was there at the moment.

* * *

The room seemed simple, with 3 rows of seats separated by a walkway down the middle, with the teacher's podium and chalkboard on the other side of the room. The windows showed the kids outside enjoying their meal and playing with each other while Naruto and Hinata sat down next to each other. Hinata, while blushing, decided to open her eyes. The blush immediately turned into confusion as she noticed the dual-nature of Naruto.

"N-Naruto, why do you have two Chakra sources?" Hinata asked, noting that his eyes turned crimson with a blue backdrop, he seemed to grin a bit when he looked back towards her.

**"That would be because I'm sealed in him. Sorry about his ignorance kit." **Kurama said, forcing Naruto to stay back for a while, isolating him in the sealed room for a while. Naruto pouted a bit, but didn't mind much.

"N-N-Naruto?" Hinata seemed shocked as Kurama shook his head.

Iruka groaned again, "Kurama why are you revealing yourself to her?" He asked, exasperated by the Demon Fox. Kurama grinned in response. So his name was Kurama? Wasn't his name Naruto? Confusion was evident on her face as Kurama continued on.

**"I mean, she likes Naruto," **Kurama said simply, happy that Naruto didn't hear this as Hinata's blush went full blast at the truth, **"So eventually she would have to find out about me. That and she's trustworthy. She might be a weak kit right now, but with time and useful training, she'll be pretty strong. I approve." **Kurama winked as Hinata passed out, having a bit of a nosebleed. Kurama snickered at this. **"That and it's hilarious to tease her! Come on, I have to deal with this idiot being completely ignorant to her crush and deal with it, I get to tease." **Kurama said, to which Iruka relented, for he somewhat agreed with it.

"How the he-" Iruka started with exasperation written on his face, only to see Kurama sigh.

**"I wish I knew so I could beat it out of him." **Kurama said simply, but there was a hint of a groan in his tone, as the crimson faded back to being the backdrop to that sky blue eyes Naruto was known for. "W-What?" Naruto asked, looking around in confusion. "HINATA!" He yelled as he noticed his friend passed out. "Kurama what did you do!?" He yelled towards his friend, who only snickered as Naruto flicked her forehead again to wake her up. Kurama didn't have the heart to tell him that he was infusing his Chakra in the flick to wake her up and didn't need the flick. Kurama needed entertainment and was not afraid of teasing him. He no longer wanted to kill the brat, but tease him mercilessly? Fair game. Thankfully, while Kurama knew how to read Naruto's thoughts, Naruto didn't know how to read his, much to his pleasure. A small part of him was disappointed, while the other was thankful that it meant Naruto didn't have to see all the gruesome things that Kurama had done, or the violet colored gate that locked some of his memories away. He didn't know how to feel about either part, and once again grew silent, much to the annoyance of Naruto.

"Nar...Naruto?" Hinata groggily got up, her standard stutter not even showing up from the lack of realization as Naruto grinned.

From on top of her.

Right next to her face.

Iruka and Kurama groaned verbally as Hinata passed out once more, blush once again reestablished. "M-Maybe it would be better if you gave her some space Naruto?" Iruka suggested, to which Kurama begrudgingly (Stupid humans spoiling his fun!) agreed with. Naruto moved to the next row up, hoping that it would be better than directly next to her, which it was after she got back up via a chakra-infused flick. (Iruka had to agree with Kurama, he didn't have the heart to tell him about the fact that all he needed was to just tap her with his finger to have the same effect.) Once more, for what was soon starting to get annoying rather than endearing, Hinata woke up. She looked around before Iruka stopped her.

"Hinata, are you okay? Passing out that many times in a row cannot be good for the brain, so I have to ask." Iruka said, as Naruto panicked and nearly spoke up if not for Kurama growling at him to Wait. Hinata shyly blushed and looked down twiddling her fingers from embarrassment. "As long as you're okay, I don't mind. Let's begin you two." Iruka said with a smile before starting with the introduction to Chakra, explaining stuff that Naruto somewhat innately knew, while Naruto was bored and struggling to stay up, Kurama was snoring and Hinata was paying close attention to the basic explanation.

_"Hey um, Kurama, you there?"_ Naruto's eyes were drooping as he asked, _**"Hmm?**_" Kurama seemed to ask, but most likely it was a sleepy nod towards Naruto. Naruto sighed, _"I assume you're bored too?" _Naruto deadpanned, but couldn't really blame the fox seeing as he could barely stay awake. _**"Yeah...honestly this is all stuff that I already know, and I believe you do as well, but I would still pay attention, just in case he says something you don't know."**_Kurama shrugged, yawning a bit as he explained to Naruto, who seemed unconvinced. _"Why should I do that?" _Naruto asked, more like whined, to Kurama, who rolled his eyes tiredly. _**"Say he's teaching Chakra Control, he could explain the Tree-Walking exercise you already know, and mention a tip that makes it easier to work with your Chakra, stuff like that. Heck he might mention something or somewhere you can go to research yourself. I want you to become strong, any less is an insult with your training and by extension, an insult to me." **_Kurama really couldn't care for tact at the moment with his explanation as he yawned again before facing Naruto. Naruto seemed to think a bit before disappearing from the room in his mind. Kurama rolled his eyes, hoping his tactless explanation reached his kit's head. Kurama shrugged once more before going to sleep, not really caring if he was right or wrong.

Kurama sadly wasn't right, unless Iruka had said something important during the time Naruto was talking to him, since all Iruka did was go for a basic understanding of something Naruto already knew, much to his disappointment. Naruto sighed a bit as he walked towards Iruka. "Yes Naruto?" Iruka asked as Naruto thought a bit, much to Iruka's shock, before responding.

"Well...my Chakra Control, to quote Kurama, is terrible. I know how to do the Tree-walking and Leaf Concentration exercises, but with the Tree-walking exercise, I can't complete it unless I was competing with Sasuke-teme," Iruka glared a bit at that, before bopping Naruto and telling him no cursing, part of him wondered where he even heard the term, "Either way, I only know a bit of what he was telling me. I have a lot of Chakra, but because of the whole sealed fiasco, it takes a lot more to convert it to Chakra instead of physical representation." Naruto said, looking back to his paper as Iruka mentally sighed in relief, knowing that Naruto had written this out with the help of Kurama and didn't just suddenly become a genius on him. "Do you have anyway for me to improve that?" Naruto asked as Iruka smiled.

"Well, you could always head to the Academy Library. There's a good amount of scrolls that could help you along that path. And I'm sure Kurama can help you pick out scrolls that would be helpful to you." Iruka asked, feeling that Kurama had snorted at him, which was confirmed when Naruto rolled his eyes at his partner. "Wait for tomorrow, I was going to take the whole class down there in order to help them set up some basic Jutsu techniques between them, from what I hear, you're good at the Henge, much more than most kids your age." Iruka said, seeing as Naruto grinned under the praise. Iruka proceeded to give a stern look in response before continuing, "However, you don't have any other Jutsu techniques on you." Naruto deflated back down and nodded.

"They told me that the Academy would teach the Jutsu, I just had to practice the Chakra Control. Physically, I'm well off." Iruka shot an eyebrow towards the gut, noting the glare Naruto gave him. "I live with the Akimichis. Just one bowl does this." Naruto said, still keeping the glare on Iruka, who apologized with a sheepish laugh. The glare went away as Naruto groaned, "Then all of this s- stuff happened, and I just...I want to get stronger. To protect them! As the future Hokage, I want everyone to be friends with everyone, and I know that in order to do that, you have to be strong! And...I-I was too weak to protect him..." Naruto said, not noticing the tears that were starting to take hold until his voice broke off. Iruka sighed, grief bleeding through that loving gaze he gave Naruto as he knelt down to the aforementioned boy.

"I know Naruto...but you're not weak." Iruka said as Naruto glared at him in disbelief. "You aren't." The glare seemed to increase in intensity as he continued on, "Your heart Naruto, your heart." Iruka sighed from the confusion and decided to take a more direct approach with him. "If you were weak, you wouldn't be here, you wouldn't be asking me how to improve. Probably, you would have been asleep and not paying the least bit of attention, and I know it, but you're here. And because of that, I think that you're strong. Weak people give up, walk away, and wallow in self pity and defeat. You are strong, and I know it Naruto. Just because you couldn't protect those you love now, doesn't mean you can't gain the strength to in the future to protect those you meet later on. It doesn't make you weak, it just means you're young. You're seven years old, and it's up to us to protect you right now, to raise you so that when you grow up, you can carry the torch and help the future generations along. Now do you understand?" Iruka said, noting that the tears were drying up, only to be replaced by a wobbly grin.

"Thanks Iruka-sensei!" Naruto said, much to Iruka's joy. "Now, uh, when does lunch end?" Naruto asked as Iruka rolled his eyes from exasperation.

"Oh I almost forgot, there is no lunch period. Everyone is let out at lunch time!" Iruka grinned mischieviously at the yelling Naruto gave him, but noticed the shy shocked smile of Hinata. Seems she was also listening in and Iruka firmly denied that he didn't forget about her, no matter what anyone said. "How about you walk Hinata home?" Iruka suggested, smirking at the blush that met Hinata's face.

"I-I-I couldn't ask Naruto for t-t-that!" Hinata stuttered out as Naruto, though confused, nodded with a grin.

"Okay Iruka-sensei! I gotta make sure those bullies don't try attacking her again! Cmon Hinata, let's go!" Naruto said, seemingly unfazed by the blush from Hinata. She was so embarrassed that she fell down the steps in the middle, leading Naruto to catch her with a smile. "You okay Hinata?" He asked as he lifted Hinata up, only to see, much to Kurama and Iruka's exasperation, that she was passed out. Naruto was starting to get used to this by now and only made to put her on his back, smiling towards Iruka.

"You know where she lives?" Iruka caught him before he left, noting the flinch and awkward silence. Naruto sheepishly laughed as Iruka rolled his eyes and shook his head. "Cmon, I'll lead you towards her home." He said, figuring if Hiashi was going to kill him, to have him do it earlier rather than later. That and he wanted to watch, he noted with a smirk.

* * *

_**And that's that! I know it's a short chapter (Hinata decided to exist and take everything, damn it.) but I figured it was a fun chapter to break up everything. We started with murder after all, and well, Naruto is still learning how to deal with that, but that doesn't mean he's not a kid first. I blame my brain for the amount of scenes that can be summed up as 'Fan Service' here, and I'm not sure how to feel about Kurama being me here...Well whatever, sorry for the shortish chapter, but thank you for the responses to the story so far. We hit past 1k views, how even!? I can't even believe it, but thank you so much. The next chapter will be the Library, as well as establishing Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto, so that should be fun. Also, Naruto is a bloody dumb dumb when it comes to romance, and I bloody love writing it, but I noticed towards the end just the sheer number of times Hinata fainted...which line pretty well up towards how it was in the anime.**_

_**When she was older.**_

_**Oh boy, that's gonna be a problem, but yeah, remember that this is the first day she met him, even years after (Being at graduation) she was still pretty shy and everything towards him, so I think it still falls pretty well within her character, and seeing Iruka and Kurama agree on something makes me cackle with ideas. Who knows?**_

_**Pre Academy will follow a set of about...4 chapters in total? This one, the next with the Library focusing around Team 7, the third which will focus on finding clues, as well as the Sandaime (aka the 3rd) and his response. Also that should get a pretty nice scene between Kakashi and Kurama, but not sure yet. The fourth chapter will focus on more and more chaos that Naruto gets into and bringing it up a few years via time skip. At least that's my plan right now honestly. Not saying that we won't see Hiashi and Neji next chapter (Oh we definitely are, I'm not passing up that beaut of a scene!) but that they won't be the focus. I don't know exactly how many chapters I have planed for this story, I really don't, but I kinda have up to the end of the Academy Arc, but not much more. I think I'm gonna go the path of screwing canon in the end (I think I already have with having Kurama as Naruto's friend lol) but that's mostly gonna be later on when the butterfly effect starts kicking in. Other than that? I don't know, I really haven't decided with Sasuke, and the Chunin exams. I think I might have an idea for Wave, but I haven't decided if I can do just enough different via this new Naruto personality, Kurama's influence, and actually do fight scenes well. I'm hoping, but it's why I been hesitant with Shippuden, since I know there is a lot of insane jutsu from there.**_

_**One more thing before I end this chapter, thank you so much. I can't ever say enough how amazing it is for you all to be reading this, and I just hope that I can write this story to you guys expectations, before blowing them away. I want to get your opinion on something that wouldn't really come into play towards Team 7 is formed. Well a couple of questions actually.**_

_**1\. Do you want to see Sasuke and Sakura interact with each other? I can show some scenes between them, but it wouldn't be from Naruto's POV as it has been (Been 3rd person limited btw.) and instead it would be from Sasuke's most likely. I have some ideas for scenes between them, but I think I'm gonna leave it towards you guys to decide, as most of their scenes happen away from Naruto.**_

_**2\. Do you want to see Kakashi actually train his students? In the Anime and in the manga, other than showing the D-rank missions, Kakashi didn't do any training up until Wave with the Tree-walking exercise that Naruto and Sasuke already know. I figure I can show some training scenes between them where they practice strategy as well as their own techniques.**_

_**3\. Do you want to see any D-rank missions, or do you want a time skip for them? **_

**_Sorry for taking your time, but thanks in advance for answering the questions! I'll be seeing you next time!_**

**_-Char_**


	4. Pre Academy Arc 2 - Shadow Step Style

_**A/N Ooooo boy, this hit 10k in the end all thanks to Hiashi being evil and stealing the show of four thousand words. I'm not terribly happy with how it came out due to how much I feel like I kinda summarized, but I think this is a good stopping point for it for now (might come back later to update and the like), honestly the only thing that kinda went as planned was the Library scene with Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto, and even that went somewhere I had no bloody clue about wow. Sasuke also becomes a lot less of a douche as I decided a while ago, when thinking of Wave, to kinda say "Screw Canon, this is my story now!" while somethings will mirror canon, we kinda derailed that a few chapters ago, so meh. I don't exactly know the schedule for this, since schedules aren't something I usually do, but I'll keep going for this. Thank you so, so damn much for the reviews and favorites and stuff. We legit blew my other stories out of the water with the success from this. As it currently stands, 54 followers, 36 favorites, 5 reviews and a whopping 2,306 views.**  
_

_**One thing, I did edit through the other three chapters a bit, bringing them more in tune to what I'm using now and the like, I suggest giving them a read through!**_

**_Also, just letting you know here. We do break the no cursing rule ONCE here, but it's used to drive forward the story, so it's fine, right? Hopefully? I think? So there's that. _**

**_Also foreshadowing is fun, but sadly I'm not that subtle about it, maybe one day._**

**_With all that said, enjoy the chapter guys! Sorry for the long wait!_**

* * *

**Two and the Same**

**Chapter 4: Pre-Academy 2 - The Shadow Step Style**

Hinata yawned, blinking her eyes as blond hair came into view, as well as a grin. "Hey Hinata! You're finally awake!" A blush made it to her face as she dug into the blond hair, heart racing from the touch. "Iruka had told me to wait on him, he's taking so long!" Naruto whined, bored from waiting as he looked like he was getting yelled at. "Kurama~" He dragged out the name as if it bore the weight of his boredom itself. Hinata giggled a bit at it as Naruto pouted a bit from it. Groaning her name as he had done with Kurama's, he sighed before changing the topic, "So Hinata, why were you so afraid of heading home?" Naruto asked lightly.

Hinata flinched back a bit, "W-Well I-I-I didn't...want to see you get h-hurt Naruto." Hinata stuttered as she explained, tapping two of her fingers against each other and diverting from Naruto's eyesight. "M-My father can be overprotective of me, to the point that I-I don't have any fr-friends in the village." She continued with a sense of sadness in her tone. Naruto flicked her on the forehead with a grin.

"You got me! And no matter who your father is, he can't change that!" Naruto put a thumb to his chest proudly, "Believe it!" He shouted loudly. Hinata burst out into giggles once more with a smile on her face from Naruto's confidence. Hinata looked behind and saw Iruka walking up behind him silently, putting a finger on his mouth when he noticed Hinata looking at him as he sneaked up on Naruto. He got two pieces of chalk erasers out and loudly clapped them next to Naruto's ear.

"WHAT!?" Naruto screamed indignantly in surprise as he started looking around for the noise, only to hear it again from his other ear. Hinata was struggling to be respectful and not laugh too loudly at the blond boy in front of her. It wasn't going too well as Naruto starting doing hand signs that seemed to terrify Iruka.

Giggling, Hinata walked up to the both of them with a smile on her face. "L-Let's get going. F-Father doesn't like w-waiting that long." Hinata said shyly, twiddling her fingers as the two agreed, (Though Naruto still looked at Iruka with a mischievous grin that promised a future prank on his sensei. Iruka's eye twitched in response.) and followed slightly behind her as Hinata opened the door to the Hyuuga compound. The surrounding area was dim in terms of light, with a sole garden near the middle of the compound that was surrounded by multiple houses. A large tree grew from the middle and a large three story house towered over the two and one story houses that lived nearby, Hinata walked towards that house, passing the tree with a humble bow. Iruka also gave a bow and Naruto shrugged and tried to walk on past the tree, only for Kurama to turn him around and have him bow so he didn't get yelled at while he slept. Naruto rolled his eyes out of ignorance, but Kurama was too tired to explain to him. Hinata walked and opened the door to the compound, only to find an slightly older looking boy glaring at her.

"Oh, so that's where you were. Who knew it would take you a hundred years to get home Hinata? What, get lost on the way home out of shame?" The boy asked sarcastically, Hinata looking painfully shy under the older boy's glare.

"W-Well..." Hinata stuttered as the boy ignored her in favor of the two behind her. She gulped at the notice that she wasn't even worth the time of day to him.

"And who are these two?" The boy instead asked, not at all remorseful for his actions. Naruto gritted his teeth as Kurama opened an eye. Sighing, Kurama resigned himself for a lack of sleep as he watched Naruto's anger rose in waves against the calm rage that the boy portrayed.

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki! I'm gonna become the next Hokage, Believe it!" Naruto stuck his thumb to his chest, but his normal grin was instead replaced with a look of determined anger. The boy didn't really look impressed, and only scoffed.

"My name is Iruka Umino (_**Thank you to the one that told me this! I honestly hadn't known!)**___and I am Hinata's Pre-Academy Sensei. I came alongside Naruto here, because I wanted to talk to your father and clear something up before the public rumors muddied up all the facts of the matter. Please excuse us." Iruka cut in before the boy and Naruto could continue on with their spat, while Hinata silently thanked him with a sigh of relief. The boy rolled his eyes.

"Fine, but only because my _loving sister_ is inviting you, I got a mission to go on, get out of my way." The boy glared at Hinata before walking through Naruto, shoving him out of the way.

"HEY WHAT WAS THAT FOR!?" Naruto yelled back in anger, only to get ignored once more. Naruto, gritting his teeth, readied for running after him and giving him a piece of his mind. Hinata grabbed his hand in a look of begging, shaking her head to ask him not to do it. Reluctantly, as well as still mentally cursing the boy, he finally turned back with a hmph as Iruka sighed in relief, mentally adding that boy to the list of stuff to talk to Hiashi-san about.

"Be sure to buy the red tomatoes Neji!" An older looking Hyuga, this one without the Byakuran and looking somewhat poor called towards Neji, who visibly flinched and ignored her. She sighed before bowing to Hinata, looking as if she was terrified of her presence near Hinata.

"Are you alright?" Naruto asked out of understanding, having seen that face in the mirror when he was younger and struggling to get by. He shook the bad memories back as the lady smiled with a nod before walking away. Naruto looked a bit worried, and decided to head back later with some food he could find to give them.

The group walked inside the rather bland looking house, doing their best to drive the memory of meeting the boy, or Neji as the lady had called him, out of their mind for the moment. Tatami mats laid here and there, but very little else was visible. They took their shoes off as the group walked to the main door. A older looking man laid in seiza in front of them, but began with giving Hinata a firm stare. Kurama couldn't find any malice within the stare until it gazed and landed upon Naruto and Iruka, Kurama smirked mentally at this, much to the confusion of Naruto.

"So you're finally back Hinata, what caused you to be so late?" He asked with nary a tone, as if his emotions did not exist to begin with. Hinata gulped a bit, but before she could start stuttering, Iruka smiled and walked in front.

"That's actually what I wish to talk to you Hiashi-san, if that's alright with you." Iruka calmly asked, head bowing a bit low out of respect, as Hiashi turned his head towards Naruto. He raised an eyebrow in an obvious question, but it was quickly gone as soon as it appeared, "Naruto is here because he was part of the whole reason why we're here, and I figured you would want a first hand explanation over what happened since he was the one that had saved your daughter." Iruka said, mentally smirking as he laid the hook. He knew that if he wanted to get this situated without Naruto getting blacklisted by the Hyuuga clan, he had to act fast and intelligently. Hiashi looked back towards Iruka, still keeping that passive face on his face.

"Okay, I'll allow him to stay for the time being, but only until he explains his part of the story." Hiashi said calmly, much to the bitter annoyance of Naruto. Kurama didn't really disagree with his emotions, knowing about the passive facade the Hyuuga clan were known for.

"Thank you Hiashi-san, I'll make this quick as to not waste your precious time. Earlier today, Naruto here had saved Hinata from a group of three bullies that were beating her up. Afterwards, when trying to enter the class, he was tricked into getting locked in a supply closet with Hinata. Sadly, Hinata was passed out from all of that due to her..." Iruka paused here, motioning towards Hinata to pick up.

"A-Ano...I was passed out because they were all kicking my stomach. I was able to hold on until Naruto showed up, but he provided me with time to rest my wounds and focus on my chakra." Hinata lied with a blush on her face, not at all wanting to tell the truth so close to Naruto. Even though Iruka sat in the middle between the two, she could still see Naruto giving her a reassuring grin her way.

"Then I must thank you Naruto-san, thank you for keeping her safe, but how did you get yourself locked in a small supply closet with my daughter." Hiashi asked, his tone becoming colder with each word he said. It was a minute change of tone, but enough to where Kurama kept Naruto from speaking immediately.

_"Kurama! What is it? He said thank you and everything!" _Naruto whined mentally, somehow keeping a blank look on his face in the process. _**"I don't think he is as thankful as he sounds. Choose your words carefully or you might not live to regret it."**_ Kurama told him, much to Naruto's nervousness. Gulping back a breath he didn't know he held, Naruto, with Kurama's help, began speaking aloud to Hiashi.

"Thank you for your kindness Hiashi-san, as Iruka-sensei has already told you, I was tricked into the closet. There were two...Chunin? I don't know but they had those vests like Iruka-sensei does, blocking the doorway. I asked them where the class was since it was the first day and we were late so I really didn't know where to go! They pointed me to the closet, so I went there, but then they locked me in! I was carrying Hinata who was pa-recovering, and I tried breaking the door down. Sadly, I couldn't get us out before Iruka-sensei came and found us with the rest of the class, so we stayed for lunch in order to catch up only to find that it was after class ended, can you believe that!? So that's why Hinata was late, don't blame her or anything, since it wasn't her fault! If you want someone to blame, blame those te-idiots that locked us in the closet!" Naruto said as Kurama's hold on his speech grew less and less with each word he rambled. Remarkably, Hiashi nodded along and seemed as if he was listening intently on the story that Naruto provided. Naruto grinned at the end, happy to see someone paying attention and not ignoring him out of content, and Hiashi smiled lightly back at the young lad sitting in a sloppy seiza in front of him. He turned to Hinata, smile still on his face. Iruka had a stern look towards Naruto as he noticed him almost cursing during the explanation, but said nothing.

"Is what he speaks true Hinata?" Hiashi asked lightly, but the smile twitched when Hinata flinched back out of fear. Naruto wanted to reach towards her, but Iruka sat between them and shook his head, much to Naruto's chagrin at the motion. Hinata looked towards Naruto and her eyes of fear steeled into ones of protectiveness. She looked back at Hiashi.

"Yes Father, he came to rescue me from the bullies before I had passed out from my wounds. I am sorry for failing you in that manner." Hinata bowed her head deeply into her own lap, failing to see the look of pride flash across Hiashi's face at his daughter before it faded into his standard poker face.

"You did not fail me Hinata, we shall train you more, and I hope you use this experience as an inspiration to get stronger to protect what you call dear. Naruto-san, allow me to express my gratitude to you, and an apology for thinking you made yourself out as a fool." Hiashi said respectfully, much to Naruto's glee. Iruka looked at him, as well as Kurama, before Naruto grinned and stood up suddenly.

"Don't worry about it Pokerface-san! I'll continue to help out Hinata-chan as she is my best friend and I never abandon my friends!" Naruto said seriously, thumb over his chest once again. Kurama burst out laughing at the twitch that came upon Hiashi's face at his new nickname.

"P-Pokerface-san?" Iruka looked close to fainting as he stuttered out the name. Naruto's grin grew.

Hinata was just plain passed out, from a mix of laughter and embarrassment of her friend.

Hiashi however, chuckled along. Iruka passed out at that point as Hiashi stood up. "Then I'll trust you Naruto-san, but no one works alone. Follow me if you will. I'll have my guards take Iruka-san and Hinata-chan to their rooms so don't worry about them." Hiashi explained, noticing Naruto's worried glance to his friends. A smile made its way upon his face as he led Naruto out of the room.

Kurama watched as Naruto was led by Hiashi towards a rectangular-like room, most likely a training room if the taijutsu class was anything to go by. The tall one, the teacher if Kurama's guess held true, bowed as soon as he saw Hiashi, but that shocked expression turned into badly concealed rage when his eyes shifted to Naruto. Hiashi most likely held a firm gaze based on the fact that the teacher scoffed bitterly before looking away, desperately trying to pretend that Naruto and his very existence didn't exist. Naruto had a pang of hurt rush through his mind before putting on his gleeful-looking mask of happiness he calls a grin.

"So Pokerface-san, why are we here?" Naruto asked out of curiosity, enjoying the expression of pure shock rushing over the teacher. Hiashi noticed the glint in Naruto's eyes and held one of his own, surprising Naruto and Kurama. _"He has a glint to! He knows!" _Naruto thought happily, pointedly ignoring Kurama's own groans of **_"Oh dear kami, there's two of them..."_** in favor of watching the teacher stutter unintelligibly.

"Well, we're here to train you. I had heard you were trained by Honoke and I was curious on what he taught you." Hiashi admitted, only to have his eye twitch a bit from the overpowering glint of glee that leaped like stars from Naruto's eyes.

"You knew Honoke-sensei!?" Naruto practically leaped for joy from it as Hiashi, after a moment of trying to get over his shock, nodded. The rest of the clan members in the training hall seemed to just stop and stare at the pair like they were aliens or something, much to Kurama's amusement.

"Why yes, we were partners for many missions together as I taught him when he was preparing for his Chunnin exams. He's somewhat of a legend here actually for his actions during the Nine-" Hiashi stopped talking from the crimson glare that flashed towards him. Coughing, he changed the topic, "I'm so sorry about what happened to him, I promise you that I will do all I can to catch his murderer, just like how you will do everything to protect my daughter, correct?" Hiashi asked as the crimson faded back into that sky blue he knew. Naruto grinned with a firm nod.

"You can count on me Pokerface-san!" Naruto had his thumb to his chest in his signature pose. The other students and teachers openly gaped at the sight as Naruto laughed at the sight. Since he had his eyes close, he missed the smile that Hiashi gave him.

"Of course, let's begin." Hiashi said before rushing at Naruto.

* * *

Naruto didn't even know what had happened, but the pattern repeated again and again as Kurama led him to safety. After a while, Kurama scoffed and told him to follow his instincts before he started relying too much on Kurama to help out. Naruto gritted his teeth out of frustration, but couldn't deny the fact that Kurama wasn't wrong at that. Apparently what Hiashi meant by let's begin was let's begin beating you up to the ground.

"Left." Hiashi said simply as Naruto had started to jump to the left. "Back and right." He said again as he kept telling Naruto's movements. Hiashi began attacking once more as Naruto got blown back, still conscious this time. "You managed to not pass out, congrats. Usually takes someone about 27 times to do that, you only took 15. Though they actually landed hits on me before passing out, so don't hold your head up too high from that. Well Iruka's waiting on you so come back tomorrow and I'll explain how you can improve your reaction times and start teaching you counter attacks." Hiashi said simply with a smirk as Naruto barely even registered the words before passing out once again.

Iruka scoffed as he walked over. "Guess you were still mad huh Honoke-san?" Iruka glared without any real weight behind it, more bemused than wrathful, Hiashi shrugged at the accusation.

"Who knows? Maybe this will teach him not to get himself locked in supply closets with my daughter, or cause her to pass out blushing. I had to test that who my daughter has a crush on. Speaking of my daughter, where is Hinata?" Hiashi said, a light smirk still visible on his face. Iruka scoffed once more as he picked Naruto onto his back.

"She's waiting for us out front, told her to wait on Naruto and me since I figured something like this was going to happen." Iruka explained before smirking himself, "Didn't want to carry two." Iruka said simply, much to the chuckled laughter from Hiashi.

"I see, I see, still will never understand why you never try to learn the Shadow Clone Jutsu Technique to help with that." Hiashi pointed towards Naruto, "Imagine if he learned it before you, it would make you look like you're lagging behind your kouhais." Hiashi laughed as Iruka rolled his eyes.

"You're one to talk, you don't even learn your clan's main technique. Oh wait, your clan is cut in half, I forgot." Iruka winked before the two broke out into laughter.

"Tomorrow at 7." Hiashi said tensely with a hand on Iruka's shoulder. "Both you and him get training for that one." Hiashi continued before Iruka nodded with a nervous laugh before walking away.

* * *

The day was almost done at that point with the sun turning orange in that high-up sky as Naruto finally woke up groggily. Even Kurama was tired after having to heal all his wounds and neither could stop the indignant scream that came out when Kakashi suddenly popped up in from of Naruto's tired eyes.

"Yo!" Kakashi said simply with his only visible eye closed. Naruto's eyes twitched in response, which Kakashi promptly ignored, "It's time to get started on our information hunting, as well as your advanced stealth training." Kakashi said with a tone suggesting happiness.

"I ra-" Naruto tried to say as Kakashi put his hand on Naruto's shoulder.

"Great, let's get started!" Kakashi hastily stopped Naruto's dismissal before the two seemed to vanish to the naked eye. In reality, Kakashi carried Naruto while Shunshining, and soon they were in a tree near the Academy, which happened to be the same one Iruka and Honoke were in on Naruto's birthday party. Kakashi was glad his mask hid his smirk as he watched the boy puke onto the building from it. He knew from the purple eyes that glared at him that they weren't happy about it, but he couldn't resist messing with the young kid in front of him. After the puking and glaring faded, Naruto's eyes turned into stary blue ones.

"Kakashi-sensei, what was that!?" He squawked at Kakashi, who cleaned his ears with a finger in response.

"You are nowhere near the skill needed to know, now never mind that, look over there and tell me what you see." Kakashi said, pointing towards the Academy. Naruto was about to ask him what he meant when he spotted a man that looked really nervous, constantly looking around and back to the Academy building. He carried a box that was about 5 inches cubed, but they couldn't tell what was inside of it at the moment with how protective he looked about it.

"Who is that guy?" Naruto asked Kakashi, who simply closed his eye again.

"That's what I want you to find out. You got your target, go find out about him via any means necessary." Kakashi said simply, subtly making a sign behind his back towards the two Anbu watching over him to keep him safe, to which Naruto groaned.

"Great, so you're pushing me away from the case." Naruto pouted, but still kept watch over the man.

"No, I really do believe that man has something to do with whatever is happening here, but I'm going after more dangerous prey. Prey that could kill a little kid like yourself, even with Kurama's help. I don't think Kurama can heal you if your limbs get ripped apart and your head chopped off, so I want to keep you safe. Just watch over the man, see what he does and I'll be able to gather the evidence from your mind later on with a new jutsu I'll teach you after this." Kakashi said, much to the awe of Naruto, who was hooked with the words 'new jutsu'. Kurama and Kakashi shared a smirk at Naruto's attitude as Kakashi pointed back to the man, who was walking away. "Hey look, he's getting away." Kakashi said tonelessly, causing Naruto to turn.

In that moment, Kakashi shunshin'd away towards the roof of the Academy outside of Naruto's eyesight, and while he saw Naruto balk and run after the man from the rooftops, Kakashi looked towards the roof. Two shadows dropped down a few meters away from him.

"Let's get started." Kakashi said simply as the two nodded, before they slipped into the Academy in search for clues.

* * *

Naruto and Kurama struggled to keep silent as they watched him, with Kurama having to help out with keeping him focused on his surroundings, while Naruto watched the man and kept him in his sights. The man bobbed and weaved around the silent streets of Konoha, looking as if someone was after him, ironic given Naruto's given job, but he wasn't laughing. The man eventually slipped into a darken side-street that even Naruto couldn't tell where it went. After a second of hesitation, he kept watch over on the rooftop above, as the man stopped, looking left and right as he left the box that he had been carrying the whole way before running away, his job seemingly done. Naruto frowned as he let him go, more interested in what would happen to the box.

**_"Good idea. The man was probably a lackey, I'll keep watch around us to make sure we don't get caught from behind, be careful Naruto." _**Kurama told him at his thought process, to which he got a light nod from Naruto and not a word back. Another man, this one calmer and collected arrived robed in a uniform that Naruto didn't know of as well as a mask that reminded him of the men that would chase him down when he was out on one of his many pranks; however, the masks those men wore proudly depicted the animal they represented, color and all. This mask was super vague with its markings, to the point where Naruto couldn't even tell what animal, if any, it was supposed to depict. The masked man, who could have been a boy depending on what it was but Naruto couldn't tell from his perch, grabbed the box and seemed to jump away, with Naruto immediately giving chase after him. Unlike the man from earlier, this masked assailant quickly caught on to the boy and did everything he could to lose him, if it wasn't for Kurama's notice, Naruto would have lost him on the first corner he took, but the chase continued on for longer than the two would admit. Many long minutes later, the two were finally at where the man wanted to be, as evidence by the fact that Naruto did all that he could to give him space. After the masked person thought he was gone, he arrived nearby the Academy, jumping in a passageway that Naruto never even knew existed. Giving about ten seconds between the two, Naruto gulped and opened the passageway below towards what he had thought were the sewers. He climbed down and struggled to look around, seeing a faint light in the distance.

He carefully sneaked towards it, seeing a group of masked men and a much older man with bandages wrapping up his body. He struggled to listen in, but could only make a few words out. Something about Konoha, and "We begin tonight." Confused and having found all he could, Naruto exited the passageway the way he came, but Kurama grimaced, unsure if anyone had noticed the two there. Naruto panted as he walked towards the Akimichi compound, exhausted from the long amount of close jumps and runs he had when stalking the man and masked person. Choza was waiting for him at the compound entrance as he picked up the young boy to bring him to bed.

"Sorry..." Naruto mumbled sleepily, trying to apologize for not being able to hear more of the conversation.

"For what? You came home safe and sound, that's all matters Naruto." Choza smiled lightly as he said this.

"Home..." Naruto mumbled lightly, before falling asleep. Choza walked into his room and tucked him into bed.

"Yup, home." Choza said to the sleeping Naruto, "Rest tight little one." He lightly kissed Naruto's forehead before leaving the room, carefully closing the door as not to wake him.

* * *

A yawn sounded from Naruto as he slowly got out of bed, unsure of how much time passed. _"Ugh...I feel like a brick hit me then smacked me around a bunch..." _Naruto mentally groaned as he heard Kurama snort, _**"The sad part is, you're probably not that far off, that Pale-face did a huge number on you and I'm still trying to get everything back into working shape after last night's adventure." **_Kurama explained, most likely mad at himself for letting it happen, _**"Da-you're right, I am." **_Kurama said, biting himself back from cursing for Naruto's sake, who snickered. Kurama simply growled before Naruto nervously backed off that train of thought.

"Hmm, I wonder what's happening today, Kakashi-sensei never taught me that jutsu, so that should be happening later on...oh no, OH NO AM I LATE!?" Naruto shouted from the realization, rushing to try and find his clock, only to find out he was indeed running late. He rushed towards the door to get ready before Choza peeked through the door.

"Don't worry Naruto, you're heading to the Hokage before class, you'll meet up with them at the library, okay?" Choza explained to the panicking Naruto, who visibly relaxed before yelling at Kurama to stop laughing. Choza himself joined in, much to the young boy's chagrin over being double teamed on, which only inspired Choza to laugh harder.

After getting fully ready, and eating a bit of Choza's cooking without the Akimichi-styled ingredients,(Which only furthered Naruto's running theory of the whole Akimichi gut with how Choza complained about it not being as good as the Akimichi food, but that Naruto needed to eat more than a 'small' bowl of food. Kurama was between impressed and terrified with how accurate Naruto's theory was starting to seem.) Naruto finally went towards the school, heading through towards the Hokage's office, after a quick greetings exchange between him and the secretary, Naruto opened the door to the Hokage's office and walked on in with a smile on his face, which grew when seeing Kakashi, but soon started turning into a shocked and terrified expression as he saw the multitude of different high-ranking ninja gathered around. He was quickly turning round about to walk out, thinking he was interfering in an important meeting until Kakashi turned towards him.

"Ah, there's the guest of honor, Naruto! Over here!" Kakashi called out towards him, Naruto mentally cried as he walked back over. "So, I promised to show you a new jutsu yesterday, correct?" Kakashi asked to a resounding nod from Naruto, Kakashi mirrored it before continuing on, "Right, so here's the signs for the jutsu of Dog-Tiger-Snake-Dog-Frog, and with that, just use something and you can use the Informational Exchange Jutsu." Kakashi explained a tad awkwardly, stuttering a bit at the application of the jutsu, since it differs between users. For him, he used his dogs and they would bark out the Jutsu, Anko's snakes would hiss it out, while Kuranai would just use rose petals to apply the jutsu. Naruto's was a tad different, to where he took a deep breath as if mirroring the Uchiha's Fire Ball Jutsu, but then blew out a compressed pocket of air from his mouth. Kakashi and the others watched with curiosity written on their faces as the air bubble made it's way slowly towards the Sandaime before popping. The scene around them all changed into what had happened the night previous, to which they mostly remained impartial until the moment Naruto let the man go in favor off watching the box, to which Kakashi congratulated him for his thinking, as well as Anko making a sketch of the face to send to the other workers of T&I to go after, before the memory played on.

Their faces shifted into looks of concern, especially Hiruzen and Kakashi, when the masked man came up. Naruto looked away out of embarrassment on the long game of cat and mouse the two played, and while he expected ridicule for him nearly losing track multiple times, he gained none of it. Instead a tense silence befell them as the memory continued down the sewer.

"Oh no...please say it's not so..." Naruto heard Hiruzen say as he saw him go down the sewer. Finally it led to the conversation Naruto barely overheard, and the man they saw. "Oh dear...Danzo..." Hiruzen said with heavy regret in his tone. Naruto was massively confused by this and was about to ask before Kurama growled out of his mouth.

_**"Is Danzo the name of that guy we saw? I have a funny feeling you have some things to explain old fart, so I suggest you get started on what happened last night, and why there was a full group down there, yet they had to have a terrified man who was close to peeing his own pants deliver something for them instead of getting it themselves. It felt too...easy of a target, as if they wanted us to find them, and I don't even know if we got spotted! Start explaining you old fart!" **_Kurama rudely cut the silence, but Naruto didn't do anything to apologize as they turned their heads towards Hiruzen. No one else except Kurama with his steady glare said a word.

Hiruzen sighed in what looked to be resignation to the situation. "Danzo is the head of the Citizen Council, which watch over my actions to make sure I don't become a dictator." Hiruzen began, perfectly ignoring Kurama's snort at the description, "On top of that, he is a dear friend of mine who I told a while back to quit this foolish sub-division he had created. Kakashi here exposed his intentions to assassinate me years ago and helped me stop his plan. If it wasn't for the fear I have that he is what is stopping us from having a massive civil war on our hands, I would have killed him that day, but for the peace of you and your generation, I spared him. I won't let him get away with this, so Naruto. Let us handle that, it is way too dangerous for you to handle." Hiruzen explained, only to hear bitter laughter spawn from Naruto's mouth.

_**"Oh cry me a river, best friend? The man tried to KILL you, all for what? You to casually forgive him and have him still keep up his nefarious plans? Man I thought the other one was an idiot but you take the cake. What, any more secrets you have to share? Any more murderers and traitors you chose to spare?" **_Kurama spat out in a rage. Hiruzen flinched slightly, which made Kurama burst out laughing that bitter laugh, _**"I'll leave that to you, I'm not playing politics with you, on to other matters. Eyelid, did you get any leads from your end?" **_Kurama turned his attention away from the Hokage, who looked reduced to a regretful old fart in Kurama's eyes, in favor for Kakashi. For his credit, Kakashi showed no outward signs of acknowledging the nickname.

"We have some form of a lead, but it seems to be a rabbit hole going deeper, nothing concrete that I can show you all yet sadly." Kakashi informed them, and soon after the meeting was adjourned. The other Jonin looked at Naruto, then Hiruzen, then back to Naruto before they left, while Kakashi decided to stay with a hand on Naruto's shoulder to stop him from leaving. Hiruzen coughed as Naruto turned back around.

"Are you alright you two, well, three?" Hiruzen asked calmly, but the tone suggested something akin to deep regret that made Naruto flinch back in guilt slightly. The move didn't get past the others in the room.

"Yes Hokage-sama." Kakashi said stiffly, still having not recovered over the bombshell from just moments prior. Kurama had said what many of them were just too scared to ask out of a mixture of respect and fear of breaking it. Kurama had no chains in that front and broken that image they built up of him. How many more had he spared? How long has he done it for? What else had he done? The questions raked inside Kakashi's mind as well as many of the other Jonins that were in the room, but a job was a job. Danzo, and whoever was the murderer of Honoke, whoever has been trying to sabotage the Academy, the mysteries kept getting deeper and deeper, like a rabbit hole that spiraled to another land of wonder.

"I...I don't know oji-san...I don't know." Naruto mumbled out, still trying to understand what had happened. It made for a pitying experience for the three, seeing Naruto nearly on the brink of tears as he raised his head with a fake grin to hide those tears, "But I'll keep going! There's no way I can be Hokage if I give up here! So what if you messed up in the past!? Who cares! It's in the past! We just gotta clean the mess up and do right today! So let's keep going! Oji-san, you made mistakes in the past like everyone does, you're not a kami, you're not superior to us all. We're human, and that means cleaning after our mistakes with the help of friends and family, right?" Naruto's false grin started turning truer and truer with each passing line as he watched the shock meet Hiruzen's eyes as well as Kakashi's eye. Tears started coming out of Hiruzen as he nodded, "Then let's do it! My Ninja way is to always help those that require help and can't help themselves, so I'll help out in any way I can without running away!" Naruto grinned with a cheeky snicker as he looked towards Hiruzen with closed, happy eyes.

"I believe you Naruto, maybe it is time that I pay for my past mistakes and clean after the messes I have made. I cannot do such a thing alone, but maybe with the help of you all, I can pay for those mistakes. Thank you for your kind words Naruto." Hiruzen said with sincerity. He mentally sighed as he heard the snort from Kurama. Naruto opened his left eye to reveal the crimson touch to his eye color.

**_"He might forgive you easily, but don't you dare think that I do. It'll take more than that to convince me, but know actions speak louder than mere words ever could." _**Kurama told him before the red glint faded away back to Naruto, who had a smile take his face.

"You can go now Naruto, I need to talk to Kakashi for a bit alone, I do believe you have a class to get going towards, don't you?" Hiruzen smiled as Naruto panicked before quickly running off with hurried goodbyes to the two. As he left, a tense silence formed before Kakashi walked towards the desk and knelled before him. "Rise." Hiruzen calmly said as Kakashi rose. "You lied in front of Naruto, why?" Hiruzen asked, having seen the subtle Anbu sign of 'Lie' that Kakashi had sent his way during the conversation with Naruto.

"Because what I found was something that he would try to dig through himself, and I didn't want to risk whoever was after him to find out we know." Kakashi stated simply, forming the signs for the jutsu to show him what happened.

_Right after splitting with Naruto_

Kakashi and two other Anbu agents quickly sank through the window through a small crack in the window as they appeared below. Kakashi and the three dived in three different directions, one heading towards the many classrooms on the ground floor, another towards the upstairs classrooms, and Kakashi heading towards the facility records.

After digging through the files, he searched for Naruto's file only to find a picture of the Nine Tails, Kurama, stapled over Naruto's face. On top of that, the words...

"Begin Operation Tailed Sabotage effective immediately." Hiruzen repeated in a faint mumble to himself, absorbing the information from the files that Kakashi had seen. A frown took his once neutral face as Kakashi removed his masks.

"I don't at all know what to expect with this, but Naruto absolutely cannot know about this. Someone at the Academy is trying to sabotage his whole class, if not the whole school. Someone high up in the Academy ranks at that. If Naruto found out about this..." Kakashi gritted his teeth in a deep frown. Hiruzen nodded.

"Take Iruka with you after they're done with class, bring him here and I'll assign your mission that I require from you both. Bring Anko here as well if you wish for her assistance on the mission, be back by nightfall, understood?" Hiruzen said sternly as Kakashi nodded before shunshining away. Hiruzen sighed in annoyance this time before smoking from his pipe. "So they are trying to sabotage through the Academy..." Hiruzen mumbled aloud as he turned off the seals that provided them with secrecy.

"Hokage-sama, your paperwork has come in." His assistant dumped a huge stack of papers on the desk, much to the tears of Hiruzen. An idea sprouted in his mind as he formed the seals to the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu. Another two hims appeared.

"Yes me?" The clone on the left asked.

"We need to get these done, in order to see to the other manners, can I trust us to break these into stacks and finish them?" Hiruzen asked seriously, to the nods of the other two. Breaking it into three different stacks, they got to work.

* * *

Naruto barely managed to fall into line as the class headed towards the library, which happened to be right next door to the Hokage's office all along.

"Hey Naruto, glad to see you back with us." Iruka smiled as he pointed him out, causing the other students to look back to the nervously laughing Naruto. "Now the Academy Library is one of the most important places for a ninja for it allows you access to scrolls detailing how to use certain jutsus or Taijutsu styles. Now, you have access to getting three different items today, one of which must be a Taijutsu style if you do not have one of your own, that or a way to use the style you have in a different way that would fit you if you have a clan style. If you need help, I'll be right over here, and you can ask your classmates on their own opinion, have fun!" Iruka said before finding a table to sit at. A grand majority of the students broke up and explored the library, yet Hinata walked over to Naruto with a smile on her face, Choji was also heading towards the group, scaring the shy Hinata a bit as Naruto grinned and ran up to the two.

"Hey guys!" Naruto said, throwing his hands around the two he considered family in his eyes. Hinata blushed something fierce as Choji grinned back to his surrogate brother. "Any ideas about what you're gonna be going after?" Naruto asked, to which both looked slightly guilty looking at him, much to his confusion, "What's wrong guys?" Naruto asked, to which Choji recovered first.

"Sadly we have clan jutsu, so we have to go to the other section away from ya, the other section is just for those that have clan jutsu and if we're gonna find what we need we have to go there without you. Sorry about that Naruto..." Choji explained, to which both looked downcast. Naruto simply pulled the three of them into a hug.

"It's fine guys, really! We'll meet up after this and help each other practice! I'll see you then!" Naruto said with a caring grin on his face, to which the two returned it with smiles. He waved the two off before his smile started fading when they left his sight. A sigh later, Naruto turned back towards the section he was allowed to search through, noting the glare he received from the librarian which he couldn't tell if it was because of him being loud or him being him. Another sigh was let out as he walked towards the Taijutsu styles, seeing what could help him the most.

_**"Hmm...that's a good question, what style would fit you the most? You prank people a lot from what little I watched of your younger days, and live off of being unpredictable. I think I know which of these styles could fit you, but I don't know if they even have it here. Head back to Iruka real quick, might as well make sure." **_Kurama told him as Naruto shrugged, making his way towards Iruka.

"Yeah Naruto?" Iruka asked, curious about his inquiry.

"Uh, Kur-" Iruka covered his mouth with a light warning, "A part of my brain?" Naruto asked, to which Iruka smiled and nodded, "Yeah a part of my brain was wanting to ask you if a certain style was in this section, saying it would be the most helpful for me." Naruto explained, to which Iruka motioned him to continue on. "Something called...the Style of the Flowing Shadows?" Naruto asked, to which a metaphorical light bulb lit up in Iruka's mind.

"I think I know the style you're referring about there, sadly the one you're thinking of is only for Genin and higher ranks to get; however, the beginning style of it, the Style of the Shadow Step should be here for you to use. While it's only the beginning style of it, it's made to build the foundation of the Flowing Shadows style up. You'll find it on Row I subsection B if I recall correctly." Iruka said, to which Naruto nodded with a light bow and a grin, before running towards that area.

The library was somewhat small, as it was only the Academy Student section, so he had to try and avoid many of the other students that now populated its small area. Kurama was repeating the area so that he would not forget while Naruto kept his search up. Eventually, he made it to the area Iruka described, only to find a crowd of girls in his way.

"Excuse me!" He said as he tried getting through to subsection B, only for the girl to ignore him. He went for lightly pushing her out of the way in order to get through to the area. She acted indigant and tried pushing him back, but he was already on his way through and saying excuse me to the next one just standing and blocking the path through. Eventually, and much to the ire of most of the females in his class, he got through to see two students that the girls were surrounding.

Naruto ignored Sasuke and Sakura, instead trying to look for the Shadow step style, but Sakura was the one that noticed him and the crowd looking ready to beat him up. "Hey! What do you think you're doing!" Sakura called out to him.

"Hmm...subsection B...where are you...this is C...ah! There it is!" Naruto mumbled aloud, completely ignoring Sakura's call as he held the scroll containing the style he was looking for with a grin. He started heading over towards the jutsu area, but was walled off by the classmates, "Hey! What's the big idea!?" Naruto shouted at the others, who only hmph'd as if he deserved it. He turned back to Sakura and Sasuke.

"What do you think you're doing!?" Sakura repeated herself, stomping up towards him.

"I was getting a Taijutsu style for myself, as was the assignment assigned to us! Iruka said the style I was looking for was here, and lo and behold, it was with you all blocking the way towards it! I said excuse me and all that but you simply ignored me!" Naruto explained despite himself, only for Sasuke to walk up and put a hand on Sakura's shoulder, to which she looked heartsick before Sasuke pushed her back. Sasuke nodded to Naruto.

"What style did you get?" Sasuke asked, looking actually curious on what the Dobe was so excited to be studying. While Sasuke had clan jutsu, he wasn't allowed to get the Clan style until he was at least a Genin, and many didn't even know if Konoha still had it in its records. Thus, he was here and trying to find a style of his own.

"It's called the Style of the Shadow Step, it wasn't really the one I was originally going to get, but that one is stuck on the Genin rank so I have to make due sadly. It relies on unpredictable movement and using multiple objects to create the illusion of you having multiple people attacking together against the enemy! Apparently it's a style that the Yondaime used in order to fight the Nine Tails years ago, but no one is completely sure of it. The idea came to my head and I figured since I tend to prank a lot of people, I could make good use of it. Oh, uh, I think I might know a style you could use, but I'm not entirely sure..." Naruto explained with a grin. While Sasuke's fangirls looked just about ready to end Naruto's existence, Sasuke smiled back.

"Oh? What would that be?" Sasuke asked, intrigued on what the Dobe thought he could use. He doubted it would be much help, but it was better then dealing with the fangirls over and over again. Even if it fell out, it might be a good start if anything else.

"Hmm, judging from your clan, you tend to use Fire styled techniques against people, so you would use trip wires to immobilise the enemy in order for your jutsu to hit and do damage, as well as a way to send your jutsu along specialized wires built to withstand the flame, correct?" Naruto asked, not entirely sure himself and just going by what Kurama was explaining. Sasuke actually held a look of shock for a moment as he nodded.

"H-How did you know that?" Sasuke stuttered out, surprised by how Naruto knew. Naruto, being Naruto, gave him a cheeky grin in return.

"Trade secret! But, with that all in mind, I think the Style of the Roaring Dragons would be a good start for you, but I think that's also Genin level. Maybe the start is this Dragonstep style?" Naruto said, pointing to the style that laid next to his own. "Heh, ironic. I think the styles are related to each other in someway. Funny huh?" Naruto grinned as Sasuke looked over the style, impressed with how much it seemed to fit him. He pocketed the style with a smile of appreciation.

"Thanks dobe, here have this." Sasuke threw a jutsu scroll his way. Naruto fumbled a bit to catch it, but managed to read it. "It's a wind jutsu that might fit you, it wouldn't work for me when I tried it, but who knows, you might find a use for it. We're even for this." Sasuke said as Naruto grinned.

"Friends?" Naruto suggested, to which Sasuke seemed to think about it a bit.

"Who knows?" Sasuke said instead before walking off. His fangirls looking torn on if they should follow or beat Naruto up.

"You got lucky this time you baka!" Sakura said before the fangirls followed Sasuke. Groaning from the whole ordeal, Naruto opened the scroll containing the wind jutsu.

_**"Wow, he has a pretty good eye of jutsu. This is what's called the Wind Style: Air bullet jutsu, or Futon: Wind Bullet jutsu depending on who you ask. I'm impressed, this might actually fit your style pretty well as a distraction technique to set up the Shadowstep style." **_Kurama seemed actually impressed with Sasuke's choice, but Sasuke himself said that he couldn't use it, how could Naruto? Kurama scoffed at his thoughts, _**"After this, tell Iruka to let you test with Chakra Paper, if my guess is right, you can more than definitely use this. Either way, he didn't say that you would be able to use all the techniques you get here, he just said you can get a limit of three today, most likely to switch and try out others if it doesn't suit you. Good job on the style you gave him, I think he appreciated it...but you totally guessed didn't you?" **_Kurama deadpanned as he asked, only to see Naruto nervously laugh in response. Kurama sighed and waved him off, _**"Thankfully, I think your guess is right, but it's not the end of the world if it isn't, since he will probably ask Iruka what the Roaring Dragons starter style is either way. Thought that matters, thought that matters." **_Kurama told him with a smirk as Naruto went in search of another jutsu to fit the one he grabbed, only to see Hinata walking towards him.

"N-Naruto, are you a-al-alright?" Hinata asked, looking worried. Naruto nodded with a smile which Hinata returned, "I-I'm glad, I-I was worried when I saw w-what happened there." Hinata continued, relieved that Naruto was okay.

"Thanks Hinata! I hope you found everything you need?" Naruto asked, to her smile.

"Y-Yeah, we're about to leave actually. You find all yo-yours?" Hinata told him, much to his shock.

"Oh no! I'm still one jutsu off! I was about to go check for another Futon jutsu to go with the one I got just now!" Naruto exclaimed, to which Hinata flinched a bit from the volume, much to Kurama's displeasure, "S-Sorry about that, I got to get going to find another one, talk to you later!" Naruto said in a lower volume, but before he ran off, Hinata was handing him a scroll.

"I-I had found a Futon jutsu scroll that I-I thought might fi-fit you Naruto, d-do you like it?" Hinata asked, most likely wanting to twiddle her thumbs together, but her hands were trying to balance the three scrolls while giving Naruto his one. Naruto supported the pile a bit as it looked like it was about to fall, while accepting the scroll from her.

"Thanks Hinata! I appreciate it! Here, let me help with the scrolls!" Naruto said, reaching over to grab the pile to help carry it, while Hinata moved back from the sudden reach.

"N-No, I-I got it!" Hinata desperately pleaded it out, but to no avail. She almost tripped backwards falling with the stack if not for the help of Sasuke, who was coming back and helped her to her feet.

"You alright? Is the dobe messing with you?" Sasuke said, looking angry from what he thought was Naruto being a pervert as Itachi used to call some people that did stuff like this. Naruto looked offended at the thought.

"N-No, thank you. N-Naruto was just trying to help me carry my scrolls." Hinata said, handing Naruto a few of the scrolls to carry. "D-Did you find everything okay Sa-Sasuke-kun?" Hinata asked as the anger loosened a bit as Sasuke realized the situation.

"Y-Yes, I did." Sasuke stuttered, throwing a not-so-subtle look back towards the rabid fangirls starting to catch up with the three. The other two blanked.

"R-Run?" Naruto stuttered as well from fear.

"Run." Sasuke said simply, the three rushing forward while trying to balance the scrolls in their kid hands. The three didn't get that far before Iruka walked up and stopped them, making sure to block the rabid fangirl crowd from the three, who looked completely terrified by the mob after them. Most of all being Sasuke, who seemed to hide behind Naruto and Hinata a bit. Iruka mentally chuckled at the idea of Sasuke using them as meatshields against the crowd, but looked back to the mob.

"We're in the library, an institution of silence, learning and building on our strengths and minimizing our weaknesses. Why are you chasing after these three?" Iruka said to them, with the ones still in the clan styled library section stopping to watch. Multitudes of voices sounded off, "Silence!" Iruka shouted to them with a tad of killing intent in his tone, just enough to terrify them all, "One at a time, you're growing to be ninjas, not audition for the Interrupting Olympics! Act like it already!" Iruka scolded them for their behavior some more, some of the students looking like they were about to cry out, some actually doing so, and some seeking Sasuke for comfort. Sasuke looked towards Sakura and mouthed some words towards her.

'I still believe in you, but not like this. Where's the Saku-chan that I met before?' Sasuke asked childishly, as those words were what brought Sakura herself to tears. She moved through the crowd and ignored Iruka, Naruto and Hinata's exclaims of shock in order to hug Sasuke.

"I'm so sorry!" Sakura apologized sobbingly, to which Sasuke returned the hug.

"It's okay Saku-chan, I missed you too." Sasuke said, shocking the entire class into silence. Ino looked downright furious as she pointed towards Sakura.

"Y-Y-You-YOU WHORE!" Ino shouted viciously towards her.

"INO!" Iruka shouted back in disbelief, where did she even learn that word!?

"What's a whore?" Naruto asked ignorantly, never even hearing about the word. Most of the class also wasn't sure what it meant, even Sakura who the insult was going towards, only looked in confusion at it.

Iruka filled the blanks for them, "It's a very, VERY bad word that Ino is going to be in deep trouble for using and should never ever be used against anyone Ever. Do. You. Understand. Me?" Iruka said very carefully and deliberately, angry that Ino dared used the word against her best friend. Ino humphed and walked off, violently pushing against Sakura as she went out, three scrolls in hand. Sakura was still crying, but now for a different reason. Naruto was gritting his teeth as he thought about rushing out towards Ino for that, but then he saw Sakura crying on the ground. He looked towards Hinata, unaware of what to do as she nodded determinedly, taking Naruto's hand and rushing them both to Sakura's side. The three, for both boys were at a lost of words and action until Hinata told them what to do, hugged Sakura and comforted her.

"It's okay Sakura, we're still here. We won't leave you like that." Hinata was the first to give her words of encouragement to her.

"Yeah Sakura, you can count on us!" Naruto gave his second, his cheerful grin on his face looking slightly fake from the anger he still held for Ino.

"Saku-chan, you told me to stop seeking revenge, and saved me from myself. Now it's my turn to help you!" Sasuke said out of determination, his more child-like persona shining through his front. Naruto smiled at this, thinking to himself that he liked this Sasuke a lot more than the one he met at the beginning. Kurama was curious on what caused him to be like this, but agreed with his charge's thought, and Iruka offered to carry their scrolls in a special handy dandy scroll called a Storage Seal. They accepted and soon, they were helping Sakura home.

"You okay Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked out of worry, as Sakura nodded.

"S-Sorry about earlier...I think what happened started when that big man gave me a flower...I didn't even notice what I was doing until Sasu-kun did that." Sakura explained, shocking the three.

"Y-You mean that the fan girls?" Sasuke stuttered out to receive a determined, and angry, nod from Sakura.

"Yeah! The man probably gave that flower to all of us! I'm sure of it!" Sakura said before Naruto stepped up, thumb once again over his chest.

"Don't worry Sakura, I'll find out what happened for you! Naruto Uzumaki is on the case!" Naruto grinned while Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"Been watching too much mystery shows lately?" Sasuke smirked to the indignant pout he got in reply, "Don't worry dobe, we'll find out together. We four should be a team." Sasuke explained, but Naruto shook his head.

"Five! Choji can help out to, and I bet he'll bring Shikamaru which will make us six!" Naruto explained, using his fingers to count them in. Sasuke shrugged as Sakura nodded along with Hinata.

"Then let's meet here tomorrow before school starts!" Sakura grinned as they agreed before they all split off home, another day spent.

* * *

**_A/N Wooop, it's DONE, finally the big bad Chapter 4 is here and the like, thank god. Well, there's not much to say here so I'll just repeat the questions I asked last chapter to you guys._**

_**1\. Do you want to see Sasuke and Sakura interact with each other? I can show some scenes between them, but it wouldn't be from Naruto's POV as it has been (Been 3rd person limited btw.) and instead it would be from Sasuke's most likely. I have some ideas for scenes between them, but I think I'm gonna leave it towards you guys to decide, as most of their scenes happen away from Naruto.**_

_**Edit to Q1: They are gonna interact a bit, but I mean like individual scenes with just them, as well as showing when they first met as a Omake and the like. They would still be side characters, but they would get their own development.**_

_**2\. Do you want to see Kakashi actually train his students? In the Anime and in the manga, other than showing the D-rank missions, Kakashi didn't do any training up until Wave with the Tree-walking exercise that Naruto and Sasuke already know. I figure I can show some training scenes between them where they practice strategy as well as their own techniques.**_

_**3\. Do you want to see any D-rank missions, or do you want a time skip for them?**_

_**Edit to Q3: If you say no, we'll show one D-Rank, then we basically skip to Wave Arc.**_

**_Sorry for taking your time, but thanks in advance for answering the questions! I'll be seeing you next time!_**

**_-Char_**


	5. Pre Academy Arc 3 - On the Hunt

_**A/N Sup! Let's not waste any time and get right to the chapter!**_

_**Chapter story thing: I kinda messed up around the part where we meet Akino Hyuuga, and I originally had it where Sasuke and Hinata were gone to treat Sasuke, but then I realized that I naturally had used the scene with Akino to further bring character development to the group while using everyone except for Hinata herself. I kinda realized this and went "Ah shit, oh no." before eventually deciding to just put the Hyuuga treatment scene before the Akino visit, and having Hinata check in on her father to make sure he was alright.**_

* * *

Chapter 5, Pre-Academy 3: On the hunt

(alternate title: Neji is a douchebag.)

Naruto yawned as he woke up, much to the snickering of Kurama. "Mornin' Kurama..." He greeted sleepily to his furry companion before blinking a few times. He stared at Kurama before blinking a few more times, not believing what he was seeing.

**"Morning Naruto, how are you today?" **Kurama sarcastically replied, snickering all the while as his charge finally fully woke with a slight yell of shock, **"Love you too. All joking aside, I called you here for a reason." **Kurama began, as Naruto sleepily motioned him to go on, Kurama snorted before doing just that, **"Do you even know what a genjutsu is?" **Kurama asked curiously, but expected a 'no' to be the answer.

"A genwhatsu?" Naruto asked, confused. Kurama rolled his eyes from the expected answer.

**"A genjutsu." **Kurama pronounced the word carefully and slowly, hoping that would rush it through Naruto's brain.

"You mean those magic illusions stuff?" Naruto asked, while Kurama groaned and struggled not to just drop the topic.

**"I...guess you can call it that? A Genjutsu is a type of jutsu like Ninjutsu and Taijutsu, and as you stated, it's used for illusions to trick the mind. It's by far the most powerful of the three types of jutsu, but as such has the highest restrictions upon it. In order to use a genjutsu, you must have been put underneath the same type of illusion...because of that, I really don't think it would help you to learn it, maybe minor ones that mess with the senses of the person, but nothing too serious. I only ask because of what happened to Pinky." **Kurama explained, not at all remorseful for the genjutsu being placed on Sakura, Naruto rolled his eyes, **"It's obvious whoever put them under it expected it to be a slow burn out, and it went through smell if it was based on flowers. To put them under such a high level genjutsu that no one noticed...I want to teach you how to break genjutsu, but my level is way too high to teach you, as mine would probably break your mind apart, even if I tone it to its simplest forms." **Kurama sighed in frustration, obviously annoyed at this point. Naruto was about to ask how before thinking about it. Naruto sighed while Kurama snorted at the train of thought.

"I guess I can talk to the old man about it, see what he suggests. If that, maybe Kakashi-sensei can help?" Naruto suggested, only receiving a shrug before being kicked out to an alarm clock blaring off. Sighing in annoyance, Naruto turned off the alarm and started getting ready, having started to wake up earlier as to not wait on Choji when he takes his showers. Choza waved to Naruto, causing a light smile to spread upon their faces before Naruto started taking a shower.

"Man my days are starting to get busy..." Naruto mumbled aloud to himself. Not unsurprisingly, Kurama answered. _**"You got that right, between Pale face, Lecturesalot, Cyclops hunting and now Flower hunting, it's a wonder you're still focused in school...you totally been spacing out during school haven't you?" **_Kurama rolled his eyes when Naruto groaned out of annoyance. "Not my fault if it puts me to sleep!" Naruto whined to his friend, to only receive mental snickering as a reply.

"You okay there Naruto?" Choza's voice rang through in what sounded like just curiosity.

"Yeah I'm fine!" Naruto shouted back, to which he heard footsteps walking away.

"Making sure!" Choza's voice rang back again, a bit lower in volume due to being in the process of walking away. Sighing, Naruto continued his shower in peace. It took a little while, but soon Naruto and Choza were sitting eating breakfast while Choji took his shower. Once more, regular non-Akimichi'd food (Or so Kurama called it, seeing as all it was was the same food minus the Akimichi secret ingredient, which Kurama had found absolutely hilarious when Naruto had asked Choza why Yakiniku Q's food was the only kind of regular food that he cared for. Choza had sat explained about the secret ingredient's effects on a meal, including it's after effects of massively increasing the amount of calories to the food in exchange for the taste being massively increased.) was on the table. Naruto ravened and savored the taste of the food while Choza barely touched his food with a look of disappointment.

Choza looked up towards Naruto, "Hey, uh, Naruto." Choza seemed a bit nervous, noticing Naruto's peek up from his food towards him, "How's...school?" Choza asked, obviously not knowing how to ask. Naruto grinned.

"It's really boring!" Naruto cheerfully exclaimed without missing a single beat. Choza made a sound akin to a dying chicken as Naruto snickered a bit before elaborating, "Most of the stuff Iruka-sensei lectures on and on about are stuff I learned from Kakashi-sensei and Ho-" Naruto's voice tripped up on himself, cutting the obvious name short. He still wore a grin, but it seemed to stretch itself, desperate to not fall off. Naruto continued on a few seconds later, "S-So I haven't really needed to pay attention. Kurama says I still should, but then again, he falls asleep first! Most of the time I fall asleep is when Iruka-sensei takes a million years to enter the class, but it's also when he tries talking about Shonobi history. I been trying but...it's just sooooo boring!" Naruto explained, completely shoving the moment behind without a second thought. Choza smiled, but his eyes failed to show it, only showing a bit of sadness instead.

"I see, are you at least practicing Taijutsu and the like?" Choza asked calmly, feeling that until Naruto was personally ready, he wouldn't push his surrogate grandson. While he would love to say surrogate son, that was Honoke's and always would be Honoke's place. Naruto sighed.

"If you could even call it that. Mizuki keeps showing us the basic style and not really helping with the styles we all chose. On top of that, he hasn't really done much to help correct the forms...I was thinking of asking Pokerface-san later on if he would help with that since he's a Taijutsu god." Naruto said, not feeling like he was exaggerating even a small bit. Choza finally laughed his hardy laugh at the image.

"Have you ever met a green-spandex wearing man yelling about..." Choza asked, looking around cautiously before whispering the next word, "youth?" He said, hesitating before there was a knock at his door. "ARE YOU FU-" Choza almost cursed aloud before cutting himself off, looking at Choji and Naruto before groaning, "I swear to Kami if its him I'm saying that he is summoned by that forsaken word..." Choza said instead, heading to the door to find it was in fact Guy, complete with green spandex and a nice guy smile.

"I HEARD SOMEONE TALKING ABOUT THE WONDERFUL POWERS OF YOUTH!" Guy screamed out loudly before Choza casually slammed the door on him. Kurama cackled at the action, Naruto just looked confused before saying it was rude, while Choji just rolled his eyes.

"You'll take the back door exit out, Choji, show him the way." Choza said with dead seriousness, causing Kurama's cackles to start becoming audible. Choza rolled his eyes before smirking. "Unless little Naruto here wants to see the most terrifying Genjutsu in his life." He said, but failed to get any response other than confusion and what looked to be annoyance towards Kurama's cackles. Kurama didn't really seem to care, but quieted the cackles to snickering.

"Oh yeah...Kurama was mentioning something about Genjutsu...hmm..." Naruto said, trying to remember as Choza looked absolutely floored.

"You don't know about Genjutsu?" Choza asked, shocked that Iruka didn't teach it.

"I think Iruka-sensei was saying something about 'Preserving our innocence and childhood.' or something, that and saying their supplies and the like been getting raided over the last two years and thus, they don't have the money to get genjutsu test dummies for us to practice on." Naruto explained, scrunching his face adorably as he tried remembering it all. "At least, that's what he told Hinata-chan and me." He gave a shrug of defeat before following Choji off out the back. Choza didn't even move for a few seconds, trying to wrap his brain around what Naruto told him.

_Looks like I'm going to be having a chat with Iruka about this...could it be his_ _comrades causing this behavior? _ Choza thought to himself, flashes of Iruka, Honoke and a dark-haired girl with sapphire blue eyes smiled back at him as he pushed the memories away. Barely holding back a sigh, he opened the door again to find Guy still standing there. Where once a bright grin took his face stood a light frown.

"Are you alright Choza-senpai? You called me earlier." Guy asked, for once being pretty light spoken, which meant he was serious. Choza sighed, motioning the green spandex wearing comrade inside before shutting the door. "Choza?" Guy asked, a tone of confusion appearing as Choza and him sat opposite each other.

"It's about Naruto." Choza began as Guy listened, "I'm worried about him, especially about how Honoke's death has been bothering him...I wish to tell him about how I was his sensei, but Lord Hokage had said not to, as it was his cover right before he died and Naruto wasn't ready to learn it. I know Honoke wouldn't have wanted it to stay a secret, but I don't want to tip Lord Hokage's hand when the Academy is under an attack of knowledge, as well as Danzo's whereabouts and how it all connects together. It's just an absolute mess and I don't even know where Naruto fits into all of this yet..." Choza sighed, letting all his worries out as he told Guy about what Naruto had told him not long before, "The mere fact that he didn't even know what Genjutsu was other than by Kurama means one of two things. Either one, Honoke's death has made Iruka terrified of what will happen to the students...or two, there's a spy that's intentionally sabotaging the Academy classes. Judging from what I've heard from Iruka, it seems to be the latter. I need you, with all your...youness, to find Kakashi and tell him I need to speak with him about that. Naruto isn't prepared for this mess, and it's only going to get worse before it gets better. Guy, I know I'm as-" Choza began before Guy grinned.

"Don't worry Choza-senpai! I'll be sure to get Kakashi and let Lord Hokage know your worries. Don't worry about Naruto, he'll pull through. Just believe in the power of youth!" Guy said, giving a much more tamed smile before continuing, "It's only natural to feel like this Choza-senpai, what with another one of your group having..." Guy faltered a bit when he saw Choza flinch back at the reminder, biting back a grimace, Guy continued, "But you have to remember that Naruto, Choji and the others need you here. Worry only makes things worse, but action...action is the road you must take. While I talk to Kakashi and Lord Hokage, try talking to Naruto and Iruka, and let them know your worries, okay? Maybe having someone to talk to will help you, instead of...bottling it in like this. I worry about you." Guy admitted with a sigh. Choza nodded briefly before Guy looked up in sudden realization, "Oh yeah! I almost forgot! Lord Hokage was wanting you to bring Naruto, Choji and Hinata to him after their respective lessons today. He said that he'll let them know about this, but it had to be secret and the like. He was wanting to see them around 8, give or take an hour or so, in order to talk to them about something." Guy explained with an excited voice. Choza smirked.

"Same old Guy huh? Still being used as a messenger boy..." Choza had a hearty laugh at the look of indignation that spread across the other's face. Guy sighed a bit as he smiled at Choza's laugh before chuckling himself at it.

"You got me there Choza-sempai. I think Kakashi is still adjusting to having quit Anbu just a while ago." Guy said, wanting to change the topic off of himself. Choza shrugged at that.

"Yeah, it was only a few months ago wasn't it? More surprised he was even nice to Naruto and them when he was training him with Honoke." Choza sighed, "Hopefully Kakashi isn't falling back into his Anbu ways with this mission. I would hate to see Minato's boys both be in danger like this." Choza said, to which Guy looked a bit confused.

"I know Kakashi trained under Minato, but who's the other one?" Guy asked as Choza shrugged, Guy groaned, "Need to know?" Choza heartily laughed once more as they continued talking about more leisurely topics from there on. Nothing important was really said and soon enough, Guy bid Choza farewell.

"You can come out of hiding Tenzo, or do you go by Yamato these days?" Choza said towards a corner in his room before Tenzo came out of the wall-frame.

"How did you know I was here?" Tenzo asked politely.

"The frame was a bit bigger than usual, as well as a tad rounded." Choza explained as Tenzo nodded.

"I'll keep that in mind next time I try hiding." Tenzo said as he looked towards Choza, "Do you need my help?" He asked as Choza looked to think about for a few seconds.

"Not entirely sure yet on that, but I bet Lord Hokage will need your help about Danzo sooner or later. May I inquire on why you were here since Naruto walked into my kitchen?" Choza asked, the mood becoming somewhat tense at that.

"I was assigned as his guard, in case anything happened to him. I stayed because I was reassigned to help you deal with a special matter that will probably take a bit of time." Tenzo explained calmly.

"Ahh...scroll?" Choza asked, to which Tenzo handed him a mission scroll. Choza grimaced a bit at the contents. "Who's going to be looking after Choji and Naruto while I work this?" He asked.

"The Naras have agreed to look after the two of them while you're away on the mission, it's very urgent that this gets done by you as you still are the only one that can convince him to step off this path. Lord Hokage would do it himself, but he's still trying to get the information from the spies as well as the information surrounding Danzo and the Academy all sorted out. He needs you to do this so he can focus on those things. I'm sure you understand." Tenzo explained. Choza groaned a bit.

"Squad?" Choza asked as Tenzo pointed to them both, "Just us? Great...I'll accept on the condition that I talk to Naruto and Choji about it before heading out." Choza explained, not wanting to leave them a note and the like. Tenzo nodded.

"I'm assuming that's what the meeting with you and the three children later on was going to be about. That among many other things." Tenzo explained as the two nodded.

Choza mentally sighed. _Great, looks like Rain is acting up again..._ The mission contents laid open before him.

With _The Rain village cooks_ being written on top with the words _Investigation Needed_ written in Red underneath it. Choza grimaced a bit, worried at what was happening in the village this time. The time before last, he was stopped before even entering and had to work outside the village before eventually leaving with no information whatsoever, then the last time he came and brought his food, he was welcomed in and heard talk of the 'Kami-sama' blessing them with Choza's cooking. Apparently this time they wanted information on this so called 'Kami-sama' and needed him to work with Jiraya to get it. Sighing physically this time, Choza pocketed the mission scroll and got up. It was just to be him and Tenzo on this mission, most likely using Tenzo as an apprentice to him and Jiraya as a local friend of his. He wished to just not do it, and to be with Naruto and Choji more, but sadly this was too important to deny, and Lord Hokage needed the time to focus on the other topics.

* * *

Naruto grinned as he and Choji arrived in class with the others. After taking their respective seats, Naruto finally had a layout of the room. Choji, Shikamaru and Ino-teme sat at the right corner on the top row, with Shino, a quiet kid that Naruto liked talking to when he realized he sat the seat above him, Kiba, who yelled nearly as much as him causing many arguments between the two of them sat to Shino's left, as well as a kid that Naruto really never talked to who sat to Shino's right. No one sat next to Naruto, but he didn't really mind. Sakura sat across the gap of Naruto, taking her seat next to Sasuke, who sat in the middle with a boy Naruto didn't know sitting next to him. Hinata sat in the middle of two boys that Naruto didn't know, but Hinata never cared to talk to them, preferring to turn around and talk to Naruto, which made him happy for some reason. In front of Sasuke sat a group of 2 boys and a girl that Naruto never really talked to, but remembered as those that took their time just to bully him when he was still in the Orphanage.

Why was Naruto listing all of this in his mind? Well, he was bored.

Really, really bored.

"UGhhhhhhh, Iruka-senseiiiiiii!" Naruto whined aloud to no one in particular, annoyed that it was ten minutes after the bell rang and his sensei still hadn't arrived yet. Hinata turned to face him with a hopeful smile.

"W-Well N-Naruto, maybe we can talk a bit with the G-Group wh-while he's n-not here?" Hinata asked, getting the attention of the aforementioned group. Naruto grinned in response while Sakura and Sasuke started walking over to sit on both sides of Naruto. Shino still sat above while Kiba snorted before turning away, though he didn't move. Shikamaru groaned as Choji dragged him over. Ino huffed before Naruto sent her a hateful glare. Ino flinched before staying where she was.

"I-Ino..." Sakura stuttered only to be ignored. She felt bad over what had happened yesterday in the Academy Library, but every try that Sakura tried to apologize, Ino would either ignore her completely, or would yell at her to stop trying. Sasuke sighed as he put his hand on Sakura.

"It's fine." Sasuke said, causing the group to stare at him. He felt a bit nervous from the glances, "I-I mean, remember what we talked about yesterday, if they're under a Genjutsu, then of course whoever's here doesn't want us learning Genjutsu and how to break it. All we gotta do is find a way for Kakashi-sensei and the others to believe us and have them break them out of it. If we do that, most likely it'll make Ino and the others back to how they were before whatever Genjutsu got placed on you all." Sasuke explained, causing the others to look in awe. "W-What!?" Sasuke stuttered out of nervousness.

"You...you actually said _sentences_!" Naruto said in disbelief, with many of the others agreeing with him. Sasuke was unable to hide the blush that rose with that before huffing and turning away. Naruto rolled his eyes before turning to Sakura. "So..." Naruto began, but was cut off by Iruka entering the room along with Mizuki.

"Morning class, get to your assigned seats!" Iruka said with a smile on his face as Sakura looked sorrowful towards Naruto, mouthing the words 'Maybe later?' before heading back to her seat. Naruto nodded with a smile that didn't quite meet his eyes. Hinata gave him a hopeful smile, which caused his smile to become a bit less strained. A small voice in his head wondered if Hinata was under a similar Genjutsu and would hate her if they snapped her out of it. **_"Doubtful. the Hyuuga clan tend to have a natural immunity to Genjutsu due to their eyes. On top of that, even if she was one that had gotten the flowers, Paleface would most certainly have noticed and snapped her out of it." _**Kurama explained with a light shrug back. _"Then what about Ino? Wouldn't her dad have noticed?"_ Naruto thought back as Iruka began another boring lecture. It was another one about the basics of Chakra, but this time he went into starting them off with a textbook. Groaning, Naruto turned along with them, noting that even Sakura was looking bored, Shikamaru and Choji were sleeping, and Shino was thinking of walking and sitting next to Naruto just to see if Iruka would say anything or notice him moving. Naruto looked at Shino with a light nod when Iruka closed his eyes as he went through his lecture, and as Shino and Naruto thought, didn't notice Shino sit right of Naruto. Shino looked crestfallen as Naruto snickered. _**"Honestly, I been asking myself the same question. Ask the sleepy brat, maybe he would** **know."**_ Kurama groaned back, frustrated at his own ignorance. Naruto stared at the textbook, a passage catching his eye.

"No one entirely knows where Chakra had come from, but research shows that there once was no chakra ruling the land. After an event of unknown origin, Chakra filled the world and fractured it. The zone we live in contains the least amount of what is known as Natural Chakra, since an overload of this would cause humans to turn into stone, however Sages are humans that have mastered the balance between their own Chakra and the Natural Chakra that now rules the world. Summons, or animal clans that allow Ninjas to summon them to help with battle, each took a zone to their own to rule, which when taught the Summoning Jutsu, can be used to create a pact with a certain clan, or clans as some have been known to associate with. Most only can form with one clan of summons; however, there are examples of some forming with two summonable clans." Naruto read aloud, not noticing how the class, along with Iruka-sensei, turned to stare at him while he read. Naruto was thinking of continuing before Iruka-sensei coughed, snagging his attention. "WAH!" He shouted, falling back from his bench from the shock, much to the chuckles of his classmates. Embarrassed, Naruto pouted slightly, but a smile slid onto his face when Hinata smiled at him. Kurama and Iruka-sensei mentally snickered at the sight before Iruka-sensei rolled his eyes at his students.

"Naruto, you do know that's the Third year's book, right?" Iruka-sensei asked, showing him a copy of the Pre-Academy book, which Naruto had already read through, as well as the first and second years. He had been bored and Choza and Choji read through it with him.

"But sensei, I already read through the Pre, First, and Second year books. Most of them are just the bare basics of Chakra and nothing more." Naruto explained, surprising most of the class aside from Choji, who smirked.

"He has, Dad and I read it with him over the last few days. The problem is that most of what the book contains are just the foundations that the clans teach you even before entering the Academy. Naruto was curious, as was I, so we asked Dad and we were going through the other books. I'm only about halfway through the second year book, but Naruto had read through the night it seems." Choji shrugged, smirk still on his face. Shikamaru and Ino stared at him like he grown a second head.

"C-Can I read some of those books later on?" Shikamaru and Sakura asked Choji and Naruto respectfully simultaneously, much to their laughter.

"Sure!" The two spoke in union, resulting in a groan from Iruka-sensei. Iruka-sensei had a light frown on his face as he stared at the four.

"You know, the reason we put it like this is to make sure we build up your Chakra reserves and physical strength a good bit before complicating it more. It's best to start it in the third and second years since you would have a good baseline by then." Iruka-sensei explained, which Sakura frowned to.

"Sure that can be the case, but we would still need the information. That's two to three years with nothing but the bare basics of Chakra when we could at least learn about Chakra control as well." Sakura said, having glanced at the word in the brief bit she had grabbed Naruto's third year book. Naruto rolled his eyes when he realized that it happened. Iruka-sensei deflated slightly.

"Okay, how about I come to a compromise with you all. You have five total years in the Academy instead of the normal four most do, so I can start with this year to build up your reserves, teach you all the basics of Chakra and Chakra control, and the Shinobi history. But, jutsus wouldn't really be touched until year two, or until you can all be able to use the two jutsus you have grabbed. Deal?" Iruka-sensei asked, reduced to having to bargain with his class at Sakura's comment, since she was right in that fact. Chakra control was one of the most basic aspects of Chakra and wasn't touched until year four of all things.

"DEAL!" The class shouted, aside from a few people, as one. Iruka sighed before nodding himself.

"Okay then, let's explain Chakra control a bit real quick then. As everyone knows," Iruka-sensei started, heading to the board and bringing down a Chakra Network diagram, composed from both a Hyuuga's help of seeing the Network, as well as a Genjutsu user to draw it down, and continued, "the entire body of anyone contains what is known as a Chakra Network. A normal Chakra Network consists of...?" Iruka-sensei asked, wanting to call on someone. Naruto, Sakura, and Hinata's hand shot up, even though Hinata's shot up a bit shaky compared to the others. Iruka-sensei smiled as he asked, "Hinata?" Hinata froze a bit before coughing and standing up.

"The Chakra Network consists of the Chakra Core, where all the Chakra builds up and is stored in, the Eight Chakra Gates, which limits the amount of Chakra that goes to each point, with Chakra Signs being used to direct the Chakra flow across the Network, as well as 361 Chakra Points, spreading across the entire body." Hinata stuttered heavily through the explanation, but the meaning still reined clear throughout it all. Iruka-sensei nodded happily.

"Correct! Now, the amount of Chakra within the Chakra Core can go up or down via use and practice, as well as physical training. Chakra acts as natural energy for the body and the more you use, the more it recovers for tomorrow. Let's say our Chakra was a number of 100 for everyone for an example. If I use all 100 points, I would die from a severe lack of Chakra. I can use 95 without dying, but be left with Chakra Exhaustion, which is...?" Iruka-sensei said, freezing the class with the word death. Naruto paled over and struggled to calm himself. Iruka mentally cursed himself for the lack of tact as Shino raised his hand. "Shino?" Iruka-sensei asked, though his eyes still stayed somewhat locked towards Naruto nervously.

"If someone uses too much Chakra, your body can pass out, like if you jogged too much, you would naturally get exhausted. Fact: Chakra Exhaustion comes in three types, Severe which is mostly always fatal, Moderate which can leave someone on bed rest for four to five days, and Mild which can leave someone on bed rest for one to three days." Shino said quietly, knowing no one else would have recovered fast enough to avoid talking. Shino turned towards Naruto and placed a hand on his shoulder, noting the lack of reaction, he let one of his insects on over. The insect bit and soon Naruto snapped out of his funk with a jolt. Though Naruto was a bit angry at this, nearly shouting in pain from it, he instead turned to Shino with a grin.

"Thanks Shino!" He instead said. Shino nodded and soon the entire class was back to normal. Iruka coughed, noting how each one needed Shino's insect to snap them out of it and didn't care to mention Shino talking for once.

"Thank you Shino for the explanation, as that is correct." Iruka-sensei said after a moment of awe. The entire class turned to Shino with a look of shock.

"HE TALKS!?" Ino shouted out of surprise, never knowing Shino to talk. Naruto and the rest of the Academy Group, currently consisting of Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, Hinata, Choji, Shikamaru was dragged in this morning by Choji, and Shino joined with Hinata's help, rolled their eyes. Kiba was still on the fence on if he'll join, but even he rolled his eyes at Ino's comment.

"Of course he talks! He's like Hinata and shy!" Kiba and Naruto both shouted, "Don't Copy me Dobe/Dog breath!" The two got into another argument before Sasuke and Sakura got them to break it up. Ino looked hurt as she stared at Sasuke. _What does she have that I don't!?_ Ino thought miserably as Sakura looked towards her, sorrow on her face. Ino made an angry sound before looking away. A part of her felt like it was dying, but she ignored it even when part of her wished she didn't.

"Enough." Iruka-sensei groaned as the bell rang. Iruka-sensei sighed, before realizing no one had moved, "I take it you want to learn more?" Iruka-sensei looked surprised at this, since most days they couldn't wait to run out...even if it had only been three days in total. They shook their heads as Iruka continued explaining Chakra control before the Academy bell rang. Then Iruka had to let them go. The Academy Group got together, with Kiba also joining them.

"So, any plans?" Sakura asked the others. Most shrugged or shook their heads, aside from Naruto.

"Well, I gotta talk to Pokerface-san and ask if he can help me with the Taijutsu style. Sasuke, want to come with?" Naruto asked, not noticing the blush that rushed to Hinata's face.

Sakura had a look on her face before Sasuke beat her to it, "How about we all go with? We all could use the help and it could help us learn in the end." Sasuke asked, to which Shikamaru shook his head.

"Can't, Dad said to not go to other clans for help with it, I'm to train with him." He explained, much to the disappointment of the others.

Choji was next with a disappointed face of his own, "Sadly Dad is the only one that can help with it, but I can if he lets me." Choji explained, much to the determined face of Naruto, who promised to help with that. Choji smiled to that.

"I can probably see if my father would let me, but I'm not entirely sure he'll let me." Shino explained as Naruto put a hand on his shoulder out of understanding.

"WHEN WERE YOU HERE!?" Kiba shouted, having not noticed him. Shino pouted at this.

"I've been here the whole time..." Shino whined while Naruto and Sakura comforted him.

"W-Well, Mom wants me to train with her, N-Not like I'm a part of this or anything!" Kiba stuttered out, trying to act like he wasn't part of the group. Akamaru bit his foot before getting on Naruto's head. Kurama growled a bit at that before Akamaru growled back. **_"YOU WANT TO GO YOU DOG BREATH!?" _**Kurama mentally screamed at Akamaru as Naruto covered his mouth. Most of them looked confused before Hinata and Choji had a realization.

"Don't mind him, this happens a lot. He kinda has a...split personality." Choji tried explaining it, not wanting to let on the fact about Kurama. Sakura gained a glint in her eyes at this. _I found another one! Shannaro!_

"You mean that imaginary friend of his?" Sasuke asked, remembering Naruto having mentioned something about a Kurama during training, as well as that time he and Hinata were trapped in that storage closet. Choji panicked.

"Y-Yeah, I-I guess that's a-a good way to d-describe it?" Choji looked completely unsure, stuttering just as bad as Hinata before hurrying them out the door. Kurama and Akamaru continued yelling at each before Naruto went into his head, eyes glossing into blankness. _"WILL YOU TWO SHUT UP ALREADY!?" _Naruto yelled at Kurama and Akamaru, knowing that somehow Akamaru was hearing Kurama. The two stopped their growling and stared at him. _"Please!? You guys are giving me a headache and the others are trying to talk! At least agree to disagree or something!" _Naruto continued as the two snorted and looked away from each other, _"No food for a week and I will subject you to Choji's eating for the next week." _Naruto threatened the two, Kurama looked downright terrified as Akamaru looked confused, _"As for you, I will tell Kiba's mom you were the one that peed on her sandals." _Naruto threatened, mostly guessing and somehow getting it right again. Akamaru looked just as terrified as Kurama did as Kiba looked completely confused along with the others. Naruto smirked, _"Then stop fighting each other, become friends and I won't do that." _Naruto commanded as the two immediately stopped fighting, shook hands before Naruto exited his mind, eyes turning back to blue with a backdrop of red.

"W-What was that?" Kiba stuttered, watching as Akamaru bowed towards Naruto before jumping on Kiba's face. Naruto smirked.

"Call me the dog whisperer, cause me and Akamaru came to an understanding just now." Naruto joked, not noticing Sasuke's shocked face. _Did his eyes just pale out? Is that a type of Dōjutsu? _Sasuke wasn't sure what he had saw, but Naruto's eyes shifted a lot now that he thought about it. Was Kurama, whoever he was, actually an imaginary friend? Naruto grinned at Sasuke at this.

"Well, we best be heading out I guess, wouldn't want to keep Pokerface-san waiting! Oh, but first!" Naruto said, rushing ahead towards a store.

"GET OUT OF HERE!" The group heard as Naruto was, quite literally mind you, kicked out of the store.

"STUPID OLD MAN!" Naruto yelled back at him, only to have to head to the others defeated.

"Yesh, you okay man?" Kiba asked, oddly calm for once. Naruto shrugged.

"This always happens to be honest, why I have this." Naruto said, tugging at his standard orange jumpsuit, "Only thing I could get." He explained. "Was trying to buy something for the Hyuugas, there was an old lady that wanted some...uh." Naruto said as Hinata rolled her eyes.

"They wanted some red tomatoes. Don't worry, I'll grab it for you." Hinata said, coolly grabbing the cash from Naruto as she went in, desperately avoiding mentioning the blush that went across her face. Kiba giving a wolf whissle ended both of them in blushes. Sakura sighed as she and Shino grabbed Hinata and Naruto respectfully, before Sasuke bought the tomatoes for them. Shino looked around as Choji walked and picked Naruto up.

"I'm sure Dad will forgive me this time, thanks Shino." Choji grinned as Shino nodded.

"No problem." Shino said quietly before he, Kiba and Shikamaru, who was oddly silent, split from the group. Shikamaru looked towards Naruto, thoughtful, but said nothing as he left. A shiver went down Choji's back. _Yesh, seems he picked up the mystery! Was hoping he wouldn't!_ Choji thought, not wanting to be the idiot to release the information of an S ranked secret. He and Hinata were both sworn in to secrecy that first night after finding out by the Hokage himself, and it terrified them both when he stressed the importance of "Tell and you will be hunted as criminals." to them both. Another shiver fled down his spine as they had reached the Hyuuga estate. At this point, Naruto and Hinata had finally gotten up and got out of their grips with a "t-t-thank you." from Hinata and a "Thanks Choji!" from Naruto.

The group knocked on the door as Neji opened it with a groan. "Oh great, it brought _friends._" Neji bitterly spat out with a glare.

"Hey knock it off!" Naruto spat back with his own glare, "Hinata is her own person, so what if she brings friends? Still more than you would ever have with your 'Holier than thou' attitude!" Naruto continued, mocking Neji's tone during the insult. Hinata and the others barely withheld snickers as it showed upon their face. Neji growled.

"Shut up!" Neji said, pushing past him, only to be stopped by Sasuke. "Unhand me!" Neji tried shaking him off, but Sasuke refused.

"Apologize to them." Sasuke said, eyes pointing towards Naruto and Hinata. Neji brought his palm to Sasuke's Chakra point, removing the feeling from it and his knee as Sasuke was forced to let go. Neji looked unrepentant as Sasuke yelled in pain, collapsing to the ground in a dry heap from the hits to his knee. Hinata stepped forward with anger filling her eyes.

"That's enough!" A voice boomed from in the gate as Hinata was about to stand her ground against her cousin brother person. Hiashi walked forward towards Sasuke to help him up. "Hinata bring him towards the nursery while I deal with this. You all, head inside." Hiashi coldly instructed them, to which, even if reluctantly, complied. Naruto looked back. "Go." Hiashi replied with a smile as Naruto nodded and closed the gate behind him. Immediately the smile fell. "That was completely uncalled for Neji." Hiashi began his scolding. Neji scoffed.

"Yeah right, like you're any better! All you do is baby Hinata, Hinata this, Hinata that!" Neji spat back with rage boiling.

"NEJI HYUUGA!" Hiashi yelled, "You are the representation of this clan!" Hiashi continued as Neji ripped his head scarf off, revealing a bird-like seal that the scarf was hiding.

"YEAH AND WHAT DOES THIS THING MEAN!?" Neji shouted back, pointing to a seal placed on his head, "THIS THING ALREADY BEEN USED AGAIN AND AGAIN AS A WAY FOR YOU ALL TO GET AWAY WITH EVERYTHING. ALL YOU DO IS JUST CONTINUE USING THAT DAMN JUTSU AGAINST ME!" Neji continued, tears unintentionally welling up in his eyes. "WHY!?" Neji sobbed out, deep with hurt and rage. "Why me!?" He sobbed onward, falling to his knees in a tearful sob. Hiashi sighed, walking towards his son as he noticed the audience forming round them. He glared as they all walked away as if they saw nothing. He looked back towards his son and knelt down, hugging him.

"I know it's tough Neji. And as much as I want to help you, I cannot. It's a curse you must learn to live with for now, but mark my words, I will not let you die to it. So hold strong." Hiashi comforted him, but Neji continued to cry more. The two continued this for a few hours as it grew dark.

* * *

_Meanwhile_

Sasuke groaned as Hinata took his arm and wrapped it around her body in order to carry him to the Hyuuga infirmary. "W-Why?" Sasuke groaned out, lightheaded as he was from the pain, to Hinata. She for her part, rolled her eyes.

"You're a friend of a friend, and that makes you my friend. I never ab-abandon friends in n-need. That's my ni-ninja way." Hinata said, stutter returning somewhat as she headed inside the compound, rounding a corner to drop Sasuke off.

"I-It doesn't hurt that much." Sasuke said, but Hinata looked unimpressed. Sasuke groaned out in pain as she lightly tapped his foot. Hinata put him on an infirmary bed, happy that it was one of the closest rooms to the entrance of the main clan building. The Hyuuga workers took one look at Sasuke, tapped the three spots that Neji had hastily closed off before looking to Hinata.

"I take it your _brother_ went after him? Tell him that his skill is too rash, and he improperly closes the point, allowing just one touch to them to spring it back to full health." The nurse spat, but not towards Hinata. Hinata was nervous from the tone, even as she noted that it was Neji she was made at and not herself. It didn't help as Sasuke slowly got back up, testing his body before nodding.

Bowing slightly, the two were off to rejoin Naruto, having found him wandering around the center with the group as lost as can be.

"I'm sure it's this way!" the two heard Naruto said, before he spotted them, "Oh hey Sasuke, Hinata, we were waiting on you!" Naruto admitted, much to the anger of Sakura, who looked absolutely ready to punch him for leading them around in circles. No longer having to stall for time, they grouped up and moved on their way.

Naruto and the rest of the group traveled towards the more poor side of the large Hyuuga compound. Hinata went off to make sure that Hiashi didn't wait alone, as well as to see if he needed help with Neji, much to Naruto's chagrin after seeing her off with Sasuke. The old lady from earlier was on her porch, eating the red tomatoes that Neji had bought for her just the day before. Naruto groaned at his sudden and rather late realization that so many important events in his life loved to go one right after another.

_**"Hey I mean, it keeps you on your toes!" **_Kurama grinned as Naruto groaned that bit more. _"Wow, so helpful!" _Naruto thought back remorseless of the whine in his tone, much to the laughter of his friend. The groans caused the lady to notice them, mostly confused and a tad offended at being groaned at as a greeting.

"And who are you?" She raised an eyebrow as Naruto shook off his previous mood, handing the basket of red tomatoes to her. Her eyes gained a glint that Naruto realized he mirrored every time he saw or heard ramen mentioned in a conversation. "Why thank you! Now why are you doing this?" She said, putting the basket down as she stared at Naruto and the group. Naruto nervously laughed a bit.

"I...I kinda heard you yelling at that teme yesterday, and I was wanting to do something to help you out." Naruto said, oblivious to the unimpressed glare present on the lady's face, before Sakura moved him over with a pleading look on her face for the lady to forgive him.

"D-Don't mind him, he's dumb and the like! We came because we wanted to help you out with being able to do the things you wish to do, but can't because of age." Sakura amended, but even she was pushed aside by Sasuke as the lady still looked unimpressed with the motive behind it.

"We wished to share our bounty with you. We bought these tomatoes as a peace offering over what had happened yesterday as a sign of forgiveness." Sasuke explained, having learned of the events when the group met up that morning, and this time the lady relented. Sasuke smirked at the others with a stroke of pride before the lady began to speak.

"Ahh, that explains it. Well what are you waiting for, let's eat." She said, as Sasuke took the basket and the group headed inside, ready to make a meal. Sasuke and Naruto grabbed a few spare ingredients and wordlessly got to work on a basic recipe, having boiled the tomatoes down into a simple soup for her to be able to eat without much trouble. Naruto grabbed the noodles, and Sasuke began work on the soup base as Sakura and the rest of the group watched in speechless awe at the actions. The lady chuckled mirthfully at the cooks' friends, watching as the two began working at a rhythm that most struggled to fall into.

She knew the rumors, how the boy in orange was an orphan having lived without anyone watching over him for more than a few years, if the rumors about how he was treated in the Orphanage since he was two are anything to say. He probably also learned cooking since he now was under protection of the Akimichi, and by extension the Nara and Yamanaka, clan. The boy in a darkish red was said to be the second to last Uchiha left alive besides the now missing nin, Itachi Uchiha, and is even the younger brother of said missing nin, having been alone since the boy was just three. She watched the two continue cooking in near unison, much to even her own surprise.

Akino Hyuuga was not an easy woman to please by any account, having a temper that was not that far behind the legendary Sannin's own Tsunade. These two boys only very recently met each other if rumors were to be believed, and they most likely had not done this before if the reactions of her guests were to be believed. Soon after, the newly dubbed 'Tomato Ramen paste' was dished out to be served to them all. Naruto grinned happily while Sasuke smirked, both equally proud of their cooking skill. Akino might not have had the Byakugan, but even she could see the not-so-subtle fist pump the two shared. Rolling her eyes, she instead watched the group nearly attack the two with awe'd questions before both of them instead motioned for the meal. Before the Pink-haired one took a single bite, Naruto stopped her.

"Sakura wait, first, we must give respect for the ones that gave us this meal. To the farmers that gave us the ve-plants that eventually became the tomatoes in our paste. To the Kamis for sending down their ramen for us to enjoy, and to the water that became our broth, as well as to the ninja protecting us all that allow us to eat this meal in peaceful times." Naruto recited, head down in what looked to be a bastardized prayer. The pink-haired girl, now dubbed as Sakura, had her eye twitch in frustration. Akino laughed as she too joined him in this weird prayer over their meal. Sasuke had stayed silent, most likely understanding why Naruto had done this from his many times eating with the two. The rest of the group also stayed quiet, not wishing to interrupt.

The chubby one, obviously an Akimichi, groaned at him, "Can we eat now!? I'm starving!" The Akimichi whined as Naruto grinned once more. He immediately dug in to his meal and looked towards the two. "I want this recipe." He eventually said, much to the cheers of the two. Akino watched as similar praises spread across from the rest of the group before eventually Sakura ate hers.

"How can you two cook this good!?" Sakura childishly asked as the two laughed at the question.

"We been cooking for quite a long while, on top of that I guess I'm a natural. Uncle Choza lets me cook in the kitchen now and again, heck sometimes he invites Sasuke over so we can train together, so we would cook the supper that day." Naruto explains with a wide grin, which while somewhat reluctant, Sasuke mirrors with a small smile upon his face. Akino finally tasted her soup, which was quite good and easy to eat. Looking in surprise, she turned to the two.

"I have seen fully aged cooks that are honored as high ranking chefs make worse food then you two, I can see you two having a great future together." She said, causing a blush to mirror between the two as they quickly pushed the other away.

"IT'S NOT LIKE THAT!" The two shouted as one, causing laughter to spread to the others at the jab. Akino relented after a few more minutes of this.

"Thank you for visiting me, I know your days are busy as young ones' days should, but never forget to leave room for the nice restful moments you can get." Akino thanked them with as much respect as her old bones could give. The group nodded to them. "I hope you all can visit again someday, sorry about the small compartments." She continued on, motioning to the one room apartment she had, as the rest belonged to the other Byakugan-less Hyuugas. Naruto's grin faded at that.

"Why is this place so small, aren't you an Hyuuga?" Naruto asked, remembering what he seen of Hinata's house and thusly confused on Akino's living conditions. Akino smiled grimly.

"Yes, but I'm what's called a 'Failed Hyuuga' for my lack of the signature Byakugan that we're known for. About ten percent of all Hyuugas never gain their Byakugan, or are born without the DNA necessary to even contain it, and if we have no other clan to reside in, we are cast to the very shadows of this complex, heading the closest village homes in order to act as cannon fodder in case of any attackers come to us." Akino said sadly. Sakura and the others gasped in shock in some form or another.

"That's horrible!" Sakura exclaimed in great pity of Akino's situation. She simply waved the unwanted pity away.

"Please, I've been making due with my situation, and it's not all bad. Us Byakuganless people all stick together, and we know the full way around the compound that the main Hyuuga never focus on learning. We make due with our situation." Akino smiled as Naruto's eyes gained a glint to them.

"Secret passages?" Naruto asked as the group leaned closer with their own looks of curiosity shining on their face. Akino laughed at the childish wonder before nodding.

"Yup. Long, long ago the Hyuuga were under constant threat as the vanguard of the village. However, they never had the mobility that many of the other clans were known for. The Senju, the leaders of the village, were known for their Wood Style and making trees to quickly send them into battle. The Uchiha used their crow summons as well as the Konoha tunnels to send them to battle, but the Hyuuga were denied access to these tunnels from a lack of knowledge on how to use them. Thus, the Hyuuga created their own network that might or might not connect to said Konoha tunnels, were made only to cover from all around the compound to four main cardinal planes from here in 10 miles of each direction. Using these tunnels, they surprised many of their opponents, who quoted Hyuugas to pop out of the ground all at once to surround and beat their opponents, while being able to use them in order to fight on the front line alongside the other two of the three great clans. Sadly, due to the more peaceful times, many Hyuuga have forgotten about these tunnels, and fail to teach the newer generation about their existence within due to a stuck up sense of arrogance that has emerged within the Elders of the clan. It's a truly sad fate." Akino continued on her explanation, noting the imagination of how the tunnels were used on their faces, her face took a more wistful look, "Because of many of them forgetting of the existence of the tunnels, we Byakuganless people often head down there to either escape those wanting to harm us for bringing 'them disgrace' and the like, as well as in order to try and steal whatever scraps of food we can. Thankfully there are Hyuuga in our clan that help buy us food, even if some do it very reluctantly." Akino finished, noting the flinch that Naruto had at the end, having known the struggle of hunting food from a young age. Many of the group looked like they were wanting to cry, but Akino smiled through it.

"Now, I don't want to take too much of your time, so run along now. I am more than capable of taking care of myself, but thank you for keeping me company through this. Come back again and make that ramen again!" Naruto and the others waved as she saw them off, seeing Hinata returning she sent a smile her way, to which Hinata returned a shy one of her own. Akino closed her door with a sight, looking at an old photograph, wondering not for the first time if things would have been different if she had a Byakugan of her own that day.

* * *

_**A/N And I think that'll be where I end this chapter. Oddly enough, not much actually happened in this chapter, but I don't think much really was meant to in the end. I sadly had to break this in two since this already is basically 10k words and I still haven't even touched the group's Taijutsu training, having to edit through this to make it flow a bit nicer, as well as Choza's mission.**_

_**Oh and yes, we will see Choza and Tenzo's mission as it'll provide a nice way to timeskip for the Academy years. It's a long time Spy Mission assigned to the two, and of S rank importance. They couldn't send too many people or it would blow their cover and could massively risk war falling out. I figure that the mission would overall take about Three years with constant letters being sent back informing the Hokage of what's going down. I figure between the mission and the search for the Flower Genjutsu user (And boy I have plans for that, don't you worry!) I think I'll be all set for the Academy years. If it's not this next chapter, the end of the Pre-Academy arc will be right after that (And yes, I know the irony of the Pre-Academy arc ending after they graduate from the Academy.) chapter. **_

_**The roadmap so far is pretty much as follows**_

_**This arc - Pre Academy Arc at 4/5 chapters**_

**_Genin Training Arc at about 3/4 chapters, along with 1 D rank mission (so far I got 2 requests for no D ranks. I understand that, but this one D rank is important for the character growth of the characters within Team 7 and shall be shown, the rest will be skip however. I also have 1 that requests to see Kakashi's training if the training is used later on, which it will be, just maybe not directly A causes B, and more the things I learned from A cause B from a unique application of A if that makes any sense.)_**

**_Wave Arc at about 2/3 chapters. I don't really have much to say about the Wave mission. It's a great arc, and honestly pushes the characters in a really good direction, all I would be doing is making some small changes really and not much more, so I doubt I'll talk that much about it because there's not much I can do to make it better other than adding some moments for the entire cast to get better with, as well as having the kids practice tree walking in a way that pushes it to it's theoritical maximum as a way to train teamwork and chakra control in the three genin._**

**_? This mission I have in my head as I know how everything goes down, but I don't know the chapter count yet, and I'm not giving you any hints on what it might be ;) Just know that this is where we break from canon, and this might or might not be a Sakura-focused mission to push her and Kakashi forward as characters._**

**_Chunin Exams: Oh trust me, these are not the Chunin Exams you know of, because of the previous arc, they had missed the ones held in Konoha and are going...to Kirigakuri!? Ohohoho! THIS is gonna be a fun arc to write and I have no idea the chapter count as of yet. _**

**_The Chunin Exams are basically the last arc of the story with me also adding (or not adding, who knows) the invasion of Konoha to it. So I think, just with my rough outline of this. We might be able to get away with about...20ish chapters? But I bet that number is gonna be nothing at the end of it all, so hey, more to read I guess? Well, thank you all for your endless support, absolutely blows me away, and I can't wait to see you next time._**

**_Once more for the remaining question. I already got the answers for the other two so those two are closed, and I would love to hear your opinion on this one in all honestly._**

_**1\. Do you want to see Sasuke and Sakura interact with each other? I can show some scenes between them, but it wouldn't be from Naruto's POV as it has been (Been 3rd person limited btw.) and instead it would be from Sasuke's most likely. I have some ideas for scenes between them, but I think I'm gonna leave it towards you guys to decide, as most of their scenes happen away from Naruto.**_

_**Edit to Q1: They are gonna interact a bit, but I mean like individual scenes with just them, as well as showing when they first met as a Omake and the like. They would still be side characters, but they would get their own development. **_

_**The other two were Kakashi training his students, and seeing D ranks. Both received two votes for yes to training and no to D ranks. So we're moving on with a Genin training arc as well as just one D rank mission involving a certain demonic Cat that might or might not appear past this D rank.**_

**_Sorry for taking your time, but thanks in advance for answering the questions! I'll be seeing you next time with Chapter 6 or an update to the other chapters yet again!_**

**_Thank you all so much for the support,_**

**_-Char_**


	6. Pre Academy Arc 4 - To be a Ninja

_**A/N Thanks to the reviewers, and one had mentioned me not splitting Kurama and Naruto's chat when Kurama is thinking to him. Honestly I didn't know if I should have done that or not so I'll be doing that for this chapter, and if you guys like it more, I'll be editing the other chapters about it after the Pre-Academy arc is over. After that, any later changes that aren't spelling mistakes and the like that people point out won't be worked upon until the end of the story proper.**_

_**Edit: I figure, since I'm right next to the end of this arc, that I'll do a super mega chapter to finish it off, as well as show a few ideas for the arc that were either moved, deleted, or added. After this chapter will be a Omake chapter featuring Sasuke, Sakura and the others in order to flesh out why Sasuke's personally chilled out, and to give you some extra character developments and the like!**_

_**I had originally thought of a scene of Naruto pranking the Hyuuga household with help from Hinata and the rest of the members of the non-Byakugan Hyuuga and meeting Neji at the end and going into a showdown with him that he would lose in order to set up the Chunnin exams rematch more. At first, I thought I would write it in this arc, before thinking about how it wouldn't really make sense. So I decided to save it for either post 2nd main mission, or the Kakashi Training Arc, in order to further build motivations.**_

_**Another thing is that at first, I had no idea if this took place before or after the Uchiha Massacre based on how I originally wrote Sasuke. Honestly I think of it as Sasuke being jealous of Naruto and Honoke's relationship, having wanted that between him and his own father, but never being able to before running into Sakura who tells him that's dumb and to apologize.**_

_**Another really late edit (Like, 22k words in late) I got Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 now! Ironically, I had read up right to the whole battle with Itachi and Sasuke against Kabuto (I remember bits and pieces of that stuff, but I'm still gonna read it again tbh.) because that was as much as my library had of Naruto. And storm 4 starts right after that and finishes the story, so convenience is nice. I understand the whole Sasuke vs Naruto final fight a lot more now, but I still somewhat stand behind the timing being a bit...off. I mean seriously, RIGHT after you beat Kaguya, Sasuke casually goes "Fuck you Naruto Imma be Hokage and steal away these Tailed Beasts, cause fuck you." and to add insult to injury. Sasuke shows Sakura a genjutsu about him KILLING her. Kakashi put it best and why I hate canon SasukeXSakura.**_

_**"Because loving you is torturing her."**_

_**Super Edit: Originally this was a mega chapter 6 with 26,000 words in it. However I had been over ambitious and made a ton of mistakes within it that messed up future chapters, so instead of a mega chapter, I decided to cut the chapter into two parts. This is the shorter of the two chapters, being only about 8k words, while the other one is around 16k before editing them both. I doubt it'll stay that way, but I think this should allow me a better time of editing through them. I'm not changing the rest of the AN in case anyone wanted to read it but I will give a little cut content thing real quick.**_

_**In the first chapter of this story, I was working with the idea that Sasuke's brother was already dead, just because the creator of Naruto never really said WHEN the Uchiha Massacre happened, just that it happened before the start of the series when Naruto and Sasuke were really young. However, as I begun working on the later chapters, I realized that it would have been better to have Naruto meet Sasuke before the Uchiha Massacre, thus it happens during this chapter in order to set the timeline straight. As such, we never really hear of Itachi and Shisui or any of the other Uchiha until this chapter, since they were never really supposed to be in the story to begin with. My little headcanon is that Sasuke childishly didn't want Naruto and them to be more into his brother and them instead of himself, so he never really talked about them. That doesn't mean that the omake and all of that would make more sense here, as he still had family issues pre-killing, and he probably envied Naruto because he found Honoke, and took it out as any child would when jealous, rage.**_

_**Another one, since I'm splitting this into two parts, is that I write the characters a bit like teenagers to begin with. Dialogue was never my best writing style, and I admit it (you can see it in all my stories really...) and thus I noticed that the children sounded little like children to begin with. However, in my defense; during the series proper the children rarely sounded like children in the end. What with them training to become ninjas for the ruler (being the Hokage in this case) it most likely forced the children to mature up a lot faster than most. On top of that, after the events of the First Chapter, they had seen death head on, and Naruto lost the closest thing to family he ever had. I would like to think I did a decent job of writing the characters, but I do understand if they seem Out of Character in a way. On top of that, Kurama is kinda a pain to write, since at this point of the story, he more thinks of Naruto and the rest of the children as kits in his pack in a sense, he wants to protect them all, but he's not beyond teasing them mercilessly. I like to think of Kurama as sort of a second parent for Naruto in a way, and that's kinda how I write him out. He's there to help them, but can't control his temper all the time if that makes any sense to you all.**_

_**FINALLY IT HAS BEEN EDITTED COMPLETELY! YES!**_

_**On with the chapter!**_

* * *

Chapter 6: Pre-Academy 4 - To be a Ninja

It took a while, but eventually Naruto and the group of himself, Sasuke, Sakura, Hinata and a reluctant Choji sat in seiza in front of one Hiashi Hyuuga. Hiashi was looking at the group of five with curiosity, but kept a firm stare at them. He noticed it seemed to scare the group, as they either buckled from the weight, stood straighter, or a mixture of the two. He motioned towards Sakura to explain why they were there with Naruto.

"We joined Naruto here in order to ask for your help in training us, i-if that's alright with you Lord Hi-Hiashi!" Sakura asked, before accidentally meeting his heavy gaze and stuttered, quickly looking down in a deep bow. Hiashi withheld a sigh from the behavior, keeping his bland, unreadable face intact as he regarded the fear that radiated from the young girl.

"Is this true?" Hiashi asked instead, raising an eyebrow as he looked to the rest of the group. Sasuke and Naruto were quick to nod, keeping his gaze with their own and not showing any fear for the most part aside from brief sighs of relief when they felt his gaze fall off of them, while Choji nervously laughed, looking more than a little unsure, but not really afraid of Hiashi.

"Well...I'm not entirely sure if Dad would let me seeing as he rather I learn his own style, but I would love the Taijutsu advice if that's okay with you Lord Hiashi." Choji explained with a calm expression. Hiashi nodded curtly, knowing the struggle of clan politics.

"I believe that Choza wouldn't mind it. In fact..." Hiashi asked, looking towards a clock to his left. It was about 7:30 in the afternoon as he chuckled knowingly, "I think we'll be asking him soon. I'll think about the offer you all make, but know that if I do end up training you all, I will beat you all senseless before telling you the mistakes of your form and helping you. You can ask Naruto about that one." Hiashi smirked when he saw the nervous flinch from said boy as a knock sounded from the door. Hiashi watched as Naruto turned directly to look at the door, looking pleased by the distraction. Sasuke merely looked from the corner of his eye, most likely to make sure that Hiashi was still seen, while the rest struggled to appear uninterested by the person while clearly being interested.

Hiashi kept the smirk upon his face from enjoying the light fear from them. He wasn't vindictive per say, but it was a welcome change from the too well-mannered Hyuuga clan's emotionless faces, and how well the kids broadcast their feelings uplifted his...but he might be slightly vindictive in the end given the situation occurring with a certain Uzumaki in his eyesight.

"Sadly, I don't think we will have time to train today, I'll see you all in the morning before you head to school. Don't worry about being late to class or anything, I'll make sure Iruka is well aware of it happening and I'm sure he will approve of the training in the meantime." Hiashi explained, the smirk shifting back to his neutral face, though a hint of a smile shone through. He stared at Hinata as he withheld another sigh, watching as she struggled to meet his gaze. She also was flickering her gaze to Naruto, who finally turned back from the door with a not-so-subtle glare from Sakura, who was sending her smiles of encouragement when he thought Hiashi wasn't looking at him. Looks like Hiashi was going to be making sure Naruto didn't have any _plans_ with his daughter in mind. He couldn't do anything about the fox inside him, but the boy on the other hand...Hiashi cut that line of thought off as he realized the absolute fear the group had, realizing he accidentally had let killing intent spread.

Withholding a nervous laugh of his own for fear of scaring them more, he instead got up with a stone-cold face, noting how they all scooted away when he went through before opening the door. Kakashi stood on the other side with his Icha Icha book open, reading as he waited. Noticing Hiashi, he put it away with one of his normal eye smiles. The two shared a look before Kakashi shrugged.

"Yo. Is Naruto, Choji, and Hinata here? I'm here to bring them to the Hokage's place." Kakashi asked as he counted the names using his hand, bored and probably tired if the tone of voice was anything to go by. Hiashi raised an eyebrow before noting the universal hand gesture for 'later'. Nodding his head, he motioned the called three through, who winced when he noticed them watching. Kakashi looked towards Hiashi with what most likely was the eyebrow raise Hiashi gave moments earlier, but all Hiashi did was tip his mouth to a smirk. Saying nothing, Kakashi led the three away. After which, Sasuke and Sakura looked towards Hiashi with a mixture of fear and curiosity.

"So, are you still up for that training?" Hiashi said, mentally grinning from the fear in their eyes. It seemed like he was getting an opportunity to release some pent up stress over Elder business that he been holding for quite a while, and wasn't that fun? Two screams rose in the night as the training began.

He will still swear he wasn't vindictive...but the soon-to-be Team Seven would all claim otherwise.

* * *

Naruto, Choji, Hinata, and Kakashi were quickly and quietly escorted to the Hokage's office as masked ANBU agents followed overhead. Naruto wasn't too nervous, but more anxious on the news that it brought. Kurama wasn't that far behind in mood, but held one of apprehension over what would happen, memories of the last meeting they were brought to flashing in his mind, the escort wasn't doing much to help the mood. Hinata and Choji seemed terrified in differing degrees, but Naruto tried cheering them up to minimal success.

The tension as they walked through the night-filled streets of Konoha felt heavy as their footsteps lightly pounded the ground. Soon enough, they reached the dimly lit office of the Hokage.

The Hokage's office didn't change nearly at all since the last meeting, but the night time setting seemed to cast a shadowed stage where Hiruzen's desk stood. Kakashi walked over to stand next to Hiruzen, in front of the desk, but they both seemed to blend into the shadowed night with the other ANBU agents that appeared, including the one that had escorted them. Both wore heavy expressions that Naruto and the group couldn't even begin to understand. Kurama did, he had seen that expression multiple times, but couldn't place from where.

Silence filled the room for an empty minute as the parties stared at each other. They were outnumbered, outgunned even, and as much as Naruto didn't want to feel that way, he even could tell that it was completely against them. Kurama's presence wasn't even enough to keep Naruto from nearly breaking his mask, but this...Naruto told himself that he had to be careful, and Kurama merely nodded. Tension spread like a miasma as the groups stared at each other, but soon, as if in a moment of breaking...

A sigh seemed to creep into the room as Hiruzen looked upon the three in front of him. Hinata and Choji seemed to crumble under the stress around them until Naruto grinned and stepped forward, placing his hands on both of their shoulders. "So Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto greeted casually in his own way of calming his friends down, but also as a way to try and keep himself from breaking alongside Hinata and Choji, "Did you find anything?" Naruto's grin seemed somewhat strained at this, and the red tint seemed to grow slightly.

Kakashi looked towards Hiruzen, who nodded with a grave look upon his face, "We did in fact, and that's why we brought you all here. We originally had intended for Choza to bring you, but he said he couldn't find you before he and Yamato had to go." Kakashi explained, which caused Choji to step forth in surprise and fear.

"Wait what!? Did he have a mission?" Choji asked, surprised his dad didn't tell him about it. Hiruzen nodded sorrowfully.

"He did, and he said that you and Naruto will be staying with the Naras for the time being, but he also said that he's sorry that he couldn't tell you two about it before he left. Now..." Hiruzen sighed once more when Choji calmed down, staring at Hinata for this, "Is there any problems you have Hinata?" Hiruzen asked to the now cowering Hinata. Naruto looked worriedly towards his friend, wanting to go and hug her to calm her down, but knew he needed to stand his ground against the two in front of him, Kurama merely scoffed. Hinata gulped, looking to both Naruto and Choji for help, to which both gave her encouraging smiles. Gulping back a breath she didn't take, she stood shakily towards Hiruzen.

"A-Ano..." Hinata stuttered terribly, her voice failing her. Naruto really wanted to go and hug her encouraging and tell her to take her time, but didn't want to accidentally cause her to faint again, after all that's why she was fainting right? By how close he was getting?

_**"Kit...you really have a lot to learn..."**_ Kurama groaned mentally through his mind, causing even more confusion for Naruto. What was he doing wrong? _**"She's your friend, right? Whatever, you're right to wait on the hugging though, that wouldn't really help anyone in this case."**_ Kurama waved the thoughts away as Hinata finally gained the power to speak once more.

"I-I ha-haven't ha-had a-any pr-problems H-Hok-Hokage-sama!" Hinata stuttered out miserably, the lie feeling numb on her throat. Choji and Naruto's smiles broke slightly from it, but neither spoke up about it...Kurama however had no such regards.

**"The kit is lying as you no doubt know already." **Kurama stated bluntly with a touch of boredom in his tone, the red color whirling in the eyes of Naruto, nearly completely overshadowing the sapphire eyes that Hinata has slowly grown to love. The words cut deep at the young Hyuuga, who physically recoiled at the words, but noticed the change of pronouns.

Hiruzen sighed once again, knowing that this was going to be a long night, "Why hello Kurama, nice of you to join us." Hiruzen said dryly as a way to shift attention off of Hinata, not at all pleased by the development. Kurama gave a toothy grin in response.

**"Thank you for the greeting, Old Fart. Anyways, Cyclops, what's the new developments?****"** Kurama sarcastically replied, tired from everything that had happened in the last few days. Honoke, who they had known for a few months at that point, had died just a mere four days ago. They were hastily admitted to the newly dubbed 'Pre-Academy' and all sorts of things happened to them. Kurama was no stranger to the ninja life being dangerous, but Naruto still had nightmares that Kurama had to help him through, still kicked and tossed and screamed as he recalled the memory of seeing Honoke murdered. Kurama didn't even realize the amount of killing intent or even the rage flowing off of him until Kakashi began speaking with a slight warning tone meeting his words. What scared him the most was the feeling that surrounded Naruto, regret.

"Kurama." Kakashi warned simply, focusing his eye on the absolutely terrified Hinata and Choji, to which Kurama hastily cut the killing intent off with a look of apology. Hiruzen didn't know if he was about to die by the look in his eye, but said nothing in order to not show his shock at the look Kurama gave.

Kakashi continued on with not a single moment of shock, "We found out that there's a group in the Academy trying to set certain students for failure in order to weaken Konoha. There were three main groups in this plan from the schematics that I found, one in charge of making sure you did not succeed by any means necessary, including trying to kill off whoever tries to teach you." Kakashi started, noting the faintly purple glare he got at that, as well as the gritted teeth of not-well-hidden anger that caused him to sigh, "A plot to make sure that the Uchiha secondary heir as well as the Kunoichis are pushed down in grades and fail as ninja by use of a mass-scaled Genjutsu that even our resident Genjutsu mistress had no clue about happening." Hinata's head was the one that looked down in anger on that one, guilty that she could do nothing to help her friends through it, Kakashi carried on, "And finally, one to cause the teaching materials, items, and grades to be fixed in order to pass or fail those that they deem to be the most useful for their own schemes." Choji growled lowly on that one from his rage. Kakashi looked at the three, no, four in their states of anger and looked to Hiruzen, who only nodded. "With all that said, it's much bigger than we had antici-" Kakashi tried before Kurama and Naruto looked up with their glare. The room grew silent and dripped in anticipation as Naruto's eyes glowed a brilliant purple.

**"DON'T YOU EVEN THINK OF KNOCKING US OFF THE CASE!"** The two roared at him, causing the group to stare at them. Seething from the rage overcoming him, Kurama continued on as the brilliant purple dimmed into a crimson blue, **"We have come too far to stop here! So what if it's more than you anticipated!? We knew what we were getting into when Honoke was murdered so close to us!"** Kurama growled out, flinching slightly from Naruto's influence.

It seemed Naruto was next to speak if the blue tint that grew slightly was anything to go by, "I know it's dangerous, we all do! But if we don't stop this, then who knows what danger we'll all get into!? We're about to head into this big world where war is all around us and people can summon meteors from the sky in order to defeat their foes! We need all the help we can get and if that Academy goes under from people trying to destroy it from the inside-out, who knows!? The entire village will be in danger and the culprits would get away with it! We still have to get the rest of the classmates out of the Genjustu but we got Sakura-chan out there and the Fox Squad is on the case to snap them out of it! Believe it! We'll show them what it means to mess with Konoha!" Naruto explained, thumb on his heart once more in dead seriousness. Hinata and Choji, after their bout of shocked silence, snapped out of it and nodded with equal looks of determination on their faces.

"I-I-I won't let them tear our village apart!" Hinata stuttered out in her own stand of defiance as she walked beside Naruto on his left, causing him to look at her in shock. She smiled on back and then stared at Hiruzen, the first sign of her Byakugan showing activation with the veins showing up around her eyes. Kakashi and Hiruzen looked shocked of her success as it quickly faded from Hinata's embarrassment at their shock.

"I hate people that hide behind and let others suffer for their misdeeds! I won't just sit back and let them get away with this!" Choji supplied, memories of Naruto being beaten up on the streets or completely ignored flashed through his mind as he growled once more, "I won't let them just walk over what this village means! They'll have to get through us!" Choji continued walking besides Naruto on his right, the three glaring determinedly at Hiruzen and Kakashi.

Secretly, Kakashi and Hiruzen was completely proud of the four's responses. They were definitely in the right mindset to becoming Genin, but their skills still needed quite a bit of work before they would be able to do that. Kakashi smiled his signature eye smile. "I'm glad to hear it, but you might not like how we're going to handle it. Can we trust you all to keep all of this a secret so we can bring them to justice?" Hiruzen asked the four of them, receiving three nods in response. Sighing once again with a light smile on his face, Hiruzen continued, "We will work to catch them in the act. Naruto, they are actively trying to ruin your education so I would like you to learn from Kurama and Hiashi secretly as we try to narrow down who exactly is at fault." Hiruzen explained, noting the red glint in the eye as the mouth opened.

Eyebrow raised, Hiruzen asked, "Yes Kurama?" Naruto's face was oddly serious for once, a crimson glaze over it as Kurama stared straight at Hiruzen.

**"Be careful of that man called Mizuki. Naruto trusts him, but Mizuki holds barely contained hate for him, as well as tried punching him after trying to interrogate him about what happened to Honoke." **Kurama explained, noting the light glare he received from the aforementioned Naruto.

"He's a good man! What's your problem Kurama!?" Naruto yelled back, not even minding how it looked like he was yelling at himself aloud. Kurama sighed.

**"My problem is that he reacted when I revealed my presence to protect you. He grinned and nearly said something about you being the nine something." **Kurama snapped back, causing a line of shock to appear upon Hiruzen and Kakashi's faces. Hinata and Choji looked towards each other, confused at this, but weren't able to ask before Kakashi walked in front of Hiruzen.

"Noted, I'll be keeping track of him." Kakashi responded with a nod of his head before Hiruzen could recover enough to approve or deny the action. Hiruzen looked at the combined pair of Naruto and Kurama.

"I'll trust you with this Kurama." Hiruzen said in seriousness as Kurama simply grinned.

**"Don't worry old fart, I'll keep the kits safe." **Kurama assured Hiruzen in his own sarcastic way, **"But, I want first take on Honoke's murderer in return." **Kurama continued, and though his tone seemed light, the chilly undertone promising death was ever notable. Shivers went down the backs of everyone in the room, but Kurama did not relent on his actions.

"As for you two...I want you to try and help out the classmates, but not make any comments of the current situations. Choji, keep Shikamaru off of this. The less people that know about this, the better. If need be, tell the group and focus on trying to get the rest of your classmates out of the Genjutsu placed over them, as well as finding who placed it. I don't know if you'll find it, but I will leave that up to you. All four of you here will be under the restriction of never talking about this conversation to anyone else aside from the rest of this...Fox Squad as Naruto had called them. This is an A rank mission for the safety of the village, do you understand?" Hiruzen, no, the Hokage asked them all. Four nods this time met his hard, unwavering gaze. "You know your jobs, go, and we'll get him together. Kurama, I will accept your request as long as we get to give him his punishment first." Hiruzen said right before they all jumped away.

Kurama grinned with a nod before he too broke away from the group.

_"What was all of that about Kurama?" _Naruto thought to him as Choji led the two to the Nara compound, which was a fair bit farther away from the Academy in comparison of the Akimichi compound. Kurama mentally sighed in response.

_**"That was the two of them testing us in most probability. They were classifying the mission as an A rank because of the level of importance behind it, since it was a grave message to the village if we failed but not absolutely village destroying, so he had to make sure we wouldn't blab it out to anyone in order to make the plan go through." **_Kurama explained to the young boy as they followed Choji and the hidden ANBU watching them. _**"If we couldn't be trusted with that, then they would probably had Cyclops over there work on his own with it without letting us all help." **_Kurama finished up, causing Naruto to pause a bit with a 'hmm' like sound.

_"So why is it A rank of all things? I remember Honoke-tousan explaining them before, and how they function. D ranks were something small within the village, C ranks were mostly escort missions outside the village where you can expect light bandit attacks and the like, B ranks were basically C but with possibility for Genin to Chunnin rank missing-nin, A rank were for high rank missing-nin missions or missions of great political importance, while S ranks were once whatever the mission was about referred to a threat to the village itself. Shouldn't this be an S rank mission, not an A rank?" _Naruto asked as Kurama shrugged helplessly.

_**"Honestly I agree with you there, but I don't think we're going to get the full picture any time soon on that. Right now we have to focus on that mission, and hope later on the pieces fall together in a way we can understand. I think it might be worth an A rank as well as an S, and we're getting the easier of the two objectives in this whole mess." **_Kurama explained, as honest as he could about his own doubts surrounding the ranking, though he was impressed by Naruto's knowledge of the matter. Naruto mentally sighed alongside Kurama.

_"So what could the other ob...ob...objec? WHATEVER! be?" _Naruto asked, stumbling on the word as he did so, before mentally giving up. Kurama snickered.

_**"Ob jec tive." **_Kurama sounded out for Naruto, who repeated it.

_"Objective?" _Naruto asked at the fifth repeating, to which Kurama nodded. _"YATTA! I LEARNED A NEW WORD!" _Naruto mentally yelled in joy. Kurama rolled his eyes in response.

_**"No idea honestly, but whatever it is...it's probably too much for you kits to deal with as you are." **_Kurama explained calmly before focusing his attention outward again to see night had fully fallen down upon them with a crescent moon being all that illuminated the calm tree-line side of the village. The breeze whistled through the leafs of the multiple trees overhead as Kurama saw a few houses appearing over the horizon, having to run to keep up with Choji's enthusiastic sprint.

The group had made it into what Kurama assumed was the Nara's household, and met someone that looked much like an older Shikamaru standing by the door asleep in a chair, complete with the same lazy attitude it seemed.

After opening the door and seeing Naruto and Choji, Shikamaru pointed to one of the back rooms before returning to his room and falling asleep. It was actually Choji that showed Naruto around the much smaller compound. Well that wasn't really true, it was more the fact that the two Naras lived in a much smaller house in comparison to the other two compounds Naruto had visited thus far, as Shikamaru's father felt it too troublesome to move out of his small house when he became the sole remaining heir to the Nara clan during the Third Ninja War. The three that lived there, apparently Shikamaru's mother was resting already so couldn't get up to great them, didn't really mind this and chose to live in one of the smaller houses in the spread out compound. Unlike the Hyuuga's squared compound, or the Akimichi's circled compound, the Nara compound didn't really have a shape to make. It was just everywhere for the most part, but it all seemed to center a tallish oak tree that Choji said was the Nara Sleeping Tree when he noticed the two staring at it.

Impressed, Naruto and Choji split for the night in adjacent rooms and soon fell asleep to empty dreams without any real form to them.

* * *

A yawn broke the daylight as Naruto finally got up with the help of Choji, looking equally tired. Turns out that the Nara's home was really easy to rest in due to the temperature of the area, and it was really nice to do so. Shikamaru looked at the two from the hallway and rolled his barely-awake eyes at them.

"So, what caused you two to come in so late? It was about midnight when you walked in." Shikamaru told them, noting that they had a good amount of time before any of them were counted as late for the class, not that it really mattered. Another yawn sounded from Naruto in response to this.

"Dad had a mission to do, but couldn't find us during the day. We were late due to Naruto's practice and the talk with the rest of the group so we didn't see the message till pretty late, so we walked on over afterwards." Choji effortlessly lied to him, but Shikamaru only raised an eyebrow at it.

"Naruto's practice only goes on until about ten o'clock at the latest, with the compound only about a ten minute walk away from the Hyuuga compound. That's about two hours completely unaccounted for. You didn't come with anything from the compound, so it couldn't have been storing up on anything..." Shikamaru continued, causing Choji to sweat slightly. Naruto was kinda too tired to care about his predicament.

"I was really tired from the training so I kinda just took a shower and past out. Choji woke me up about an hour after when he found the note on the refrigerator door on his midnight snack raid, telling him to lead us over to the Nara compound. It was late because I kept nearly falling asleep and we got a bit lost trying to find some food along the way. Proba'ly why it was about midnight we got to you." Naruto slurred sleepily as he took over the explanation. Shikamaru looked slightly impressed.

"Huh, good lie, you would have got me if it wasn't for the fact that when you came, you looked dead tired as well as both of you looking like you didn't eat supper. It's too troublesome to try and expose your lie, but I wish you'll trust me with it." Shikamaru sighed while Choji looked torn. Shikamaru smirked when he turned in a look of walking away.

"Wait!" Choji caved sadly as Shikamaru calmly, hiding the smirk of course, walked back into the room. "Okay but what I tell you stays with you! It's top ultra level secret, okay!?" Choji said in a look of nervous seriousness, looking around during the while. Naruto got to work on shutting the doors and windows and closing the curtains, nearly completely casting the room in shadow before fumbling and turning on a lamp. Shikamaru looked serious as he motioned for Choji to continue. Choji looked to Naruto as Naruto nodded in silent understanding, keeping a watch on anyone trying to sneak and listen in. Shikaku, now awake, merely smirked as he helped them out with the sealing of the conversation, knowing the matter they were discussing.

_Only Shikamaru can make Choji cave that fast, looks like I win the bet Hiruzen!_ Shikaku grinned in thought, before casting his ears back to the conversation unfolding.

"It's about the Genjutsu the rest of the class are under. Naruto and I are trying to devise a method to break them out of it and we also want to try and track down who's to blame for it happening." Choji began, explaining the plan that they had talked about with Sakura and the rest of the group, as well as what Naruto and Choji talked about before heading to school most of the mornings before the events of last night. It revolved around using Sasuke to break the Genjutsu as Sakura said it was his words that snapped her back to her senses. It took Sasuke making her remember why she had liked him to begin with, but didn't seem to break if you used the standard Ram sign Kai breakthrough. It seemed that whatever it was interacted by smell, as she mentioned getting a pack of flowers from Ino and smelling them before her brain filled with thoughts of her and Sasuke together. Shikamaru nodded along as Choji and Naruto explained their plan until the two finished.

"We might not be as smart as you, but we didn't want to get you into trouble or anything, sorry about that!" Naruto laughed, hoping beyond hope that their top of the fly plan to distract the genius worked. Kurama rolled his eyes, but secretly held the same hope as Naruto. Shikamaru scoffed.

"I'll let you get away with it this time, but your sweat drops give away that you're not telling the whole story. You know that I'm going to find out eventually so stop being so troublesome." Shikamaru groaned in annoyance at his friends, who both gave bouts of nervous laughter.

"W-We'll tell you the whole story later, but we'll need to have you visit the Hokage for it..." Naruto nervously explained. Shikamaru nodded.

Shikaku sighed in relief, thankful that they did tell, Shikamaru would have hounded him for a week until he told, and he had bet his entire payday on this one, thankfully Hiruzen had betted two days. Shikaku grinned as he took the seals for proof. _I may be lazy, but this will let me be even lazier for the next week, and maybe even take out that troublesome wife of mine for dinner._

"I'll hold you two to it then, let's get going before we're late. Also, don't you know the clean jutsu?" Shikamaru asked, showing the handsigns in full before his messy bed hair and clothes suddenly became clean. Naruto and Choji stared blankly at each other before repeating it, having to focus on the chakra formations before their clothes and body also felt clean.

"What even is this jutsu?" Naruto asked, absolutely confused.

"Well, a Nara made it years ago," Shikamaru explained, expertly ignoring a 'knew it' from Choji, "In order to keep agents in the field from being found out by the smell of their clothes after a long stakeout. By doing this, it makes use of the body's natural cleaning in order to well, clean the clothes and the like." Shikamaru continued, smirking as he noticed the awe in Naruto's eyes.

"That's SO COOL!" Naruto exclaimed with a grin on his face. Shikamaru wasn't entirely sure, but noticed the sapphire eyes clear through, while there was a small red tint around it, pulsing lightly as if it was sleeping. A light frown overtook Shikamaru's face, curious on why Naruto's eyes changed color so often, was it due to the Nine Tails influence like his dad had explained before? Shrugging it off for another day, the trio went off for the Academy.

_**"Not entirely sure what that jutsu is for, but it is pretty ingenious." **_Kurama suddenly thought towards Naruto on the route over.

_"Morning Kurama. So, what do you mean by that?" _Naruto asked, more just for the conversation then actually knowing. Kurama didn't mind much.

_**"Well, remember Kiba? His clan specializes in smell and finding enemies based on that. Many search teams go for having someone with a keen sense of smell due to Genjutsu being so powerful and rarely transmitted via the scent of smell, so having a jutsu that can clean your body and clothes and masks that scent is actually really beneficial for hiding from enemies when on long stakeouts." **_Kurama explained carefully, mentally jotting the jutsu down. Withholding another yawn, Kurama soon fell back asleep while Naruto entered the Academy building.

Iruka wasn't there for once, as he was busy with his mission for the Hokage that day. Instead, a teacher that Naruto didn't recognize, a woman if the circles around her chest was anything to go by, was there and glared when Naruto entered the room. The black hair flowed to the woman's shoulders to the point that she looked like she wasn't really paying attention to the class. Naruto ignored her when she kept the glare fixated on him, and went to his seat and sat down, noting how Choji and Shikamaru were also glaring at the teacher in their own ways. A smile upon his face, Naruto couldn't help but wonder when he would be able to see the rest of the Fox Squad again. They didn't really meet all the time in order to keep suspicions off of them and keep them all safe, so they decided to only meet up either in the Academy, but secretly via jutsu signs and Genjutsu provided by Sakura, and 'Naruto's alter ego' Kurama, they would pass messages along to one another.

Sakura had some affinity for Genjutsu as they found out in the first Genjutsu class with her after she was freed from her own Genjutsu, and none of them ever wanted to remember the horrors of that day. Even Sasuke couldn't help but feel slightly nervous around her after that. Thankfully she agreed to never use those kinds of Genjutsu on them, she claimed it didn't really fit her, and that she rather fight someone with her fists first, rather than risk getting lost in the web of Genjutsu that illusion fights would always devolve into. Thus she only really focused on how to tell you're in a Genjutsu as well as how to remove a Genjutsu off of yourself.

Kurama chuckled slightly at the memory, surprised that the secret of the Fox Squad's leader still stayed a secret through all the slip ups they gave about Kurama's existence, but didn't mind really. Sasuke was the next one to arrive, followed shortly after by most of the remaining fan-girls, Sakura, and Hinata. Kurama's red tint lit slightly towards the trio as he passed a message along.

_**"We're gonna meet up after school, the Academy isn't safe now. I'll explain it all later, just keep up the appearances." **_Kurama sent the message along with a light Genjutsu that didn't even require anything more than sight lines. Some of the girls looked over and just were confused away, wondering what had happened, but the other three gave a simple sign that involved them fixing their hair. Satisfied the message was delivered, the red glint in Naruto's eyes faded away. Yawning, Naruto casually ignored Sasuke, who acted like he was brooding. Sakura and Ino, with only one of them pretending, tried talking to Sasuke about things. Sakura was a lot calmer between the two, but Sasuke ignored both of them effortlessly. Choji and Shikamaru, along with Hinata and Naruto didn't have to pretend to be friends since they were already shown to be friends, but the rest didn't want to give away the plan between them. Shino was one of the last ones to arrive, and along with yet another red glint of Naruto's eyes, he too messed with his hair as a sign of getting it.

The teacher, Ms. Henrissa if the name on the chalkboard behind was anything to believe, (Naruto wasn't entirely sure it was true, and Kurama had a high belief against it as well.) finally snapped at this. "Naruto Uzumaki! Are you pranking these young students!?" She demanded to know as Naruto grinned mischievously. The group, having planned such plans, started itching over as if it was really really annoying and painful. "Get out of my classroom!" She demanded, tossing the chalk at him. Naruto dodged it by scooting to one of the sides on the three man wide seat he was at.

"Ahh don't worry, don't worry! It was just a genjutsu I had learned yesterday! It'll wear off in a bit!" Naruto lied with a grin plastered on his face. As if by an unknown signal, the itching slowly stopped for the involved members. Hasty, prepared glares were sent to Naruto and soon enough, the teacher proceeded to completely ignore Naruto's presence for the rest of class.

It was a class about the application of Chakra that day, at least after the teacher stopped talking about her looks and how superior she was to the rest of the class, and describing the uses of the twelve hand signs. They were all in accordance to the twelve Chinese zodiac signs, being; Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog and Pig. Each one of the signs pass a specific Chakra signal to your Network in order to signal what jutsu you are to use. For example, to use the Cleaning jutsu, you needed to use Rat, Rabbit and Snake in order to clean, preserve and shed away the previous day's yuckyness. There was quite a lot to how the signs worked, with how it also influenced the element in use; as Dragon was mostly fire along with Ox and Tiger, Rabbit and Monkey tended to be Earth, and so on and so forth. A lot of it went over even Kurama's head, so he couldn't really help Naruto with it, but they did notice Sakura quietly and quickly jotting down the information for it. In fact...

"Sensei, that's not correct." Sakura bluntly exclaimed when the teacher had described Pig as the useless sign that did nothing. "Pig in fact is used in order to bind the other signs together to perform dual-layered or even triple-layered jutsu such as the Summoning Jutsu." Sakura continued, before launching onto more examples that surprised even Kurama.

"ENOUGH!" The teacher yelled after the fifth example Sakura gave. Sakura reluctantly stopped and the vicious glare that rushed her way. "You say all these examples, but the truth is that I've been in much more combat situations then you ever have been in so how could you claim to know more than me? Now shut up and listen!" Ms. Henrissa yelled at Sakura, almost daring her to continue speaking. When Sakura said nothing, Ms. Henrissa continued. Sasuke shot a worried look towards Sakura's tearing face but couldn't do anything to help her. Almost mockingly, Ms. Henrissa tried using signs that Sasuke knew were a fire styled jutsu to try and launch a small ember of flame towards Sakura. Sasuke, having saw this, quickly pushed Sakura out of the way of the flame, getting singed lightly in the process.

"WHAT WAS THAT FOR!?" Naruto yelled, pounding his desk in the process as the class erupted into madness. The teacher rushed over to Sasuke to see if he was alright only to be shoved away by a snarling Naruto, who had ran over to make sure his two classmates, friends more like, were okay. The door slammed open in the process, revealing a very angry Iruka in front of it.

"I-I-Iruka-san!" The teacher stuttered out in shock, only to have two Anbu agents pop up to drag her out.

"You'll have your punishment for that. Sasuke, Sakura, are you two alright?" Iruka spat at Ms. Henrissa, quickly walking over to the pair and checking the wound with Naruto letting him on through. Sasuke nodded as he showed that the fire jutsu was pretty weak due to the lack of a pig sign after tiger. Sakura however looked at Sasuke with a look of complete shock.

"Y-you got hurt...because of me?" Sakura nearly completely whispered from the complete shock of it all. Sasuke smiled.

"It was nothing Sakura." Sasuke said back calmly. "I'm sorry I didn't stop her from insulting you like that." He whispered before getting back up and putting on his mask when the Genjutsu'd classmates of his ganged up upon him. Naruto walked over to Sakura and helped her up while looking back at Sasuke with a look of apology. Sasuke looked back with a stiff nod of understanding.

"Y-You okay Sakura?" Naruto stuttered out in deep worry. Sakura nodded with an unsure face in order to try and cheer him up.

"Yeah, I'm okay. Iruka-sensei...is the Pig sign useless?" She asked, noting how Naruto flinched back.

"Of course not. Many jutsu uses it in order to bind together multi-layered jutsu as you had explained. In fact, if she had used a pig sign in that Katon jutsu, it would have been at least five times more effective." Iruka-sensei explained more calm than he felt. Sakura looked towards Sasuke fearfully, afraid on what would have happened it she had indeed did that. Iruka didn't try to answer. "Everyone!" Iruka said instead, catching the attention of the class. "Let it be known that she will get the punishment deserving of one that attacks their students, as well as one trying to falsify information to a student with one's personal beliefs. We'll start over the lesson she taught you all with the real one in order to compare what will happen depending on a sign's usage. This can also be shown as a lesson on the dangers of being a ninja and of jutsu in general. It can harm, but it can also heal. Tomorrow we will be discussing the duty of a Ninja, as well as the different types of ninja around in order for you to get a better role of what we will be teaching here in the Academy as a whole. If you do not wish to be in danger, I suggest you quit now and take up a job around the village as a carpenter or a shop owner, for there will be no going back if you graduate." Iruka explained, before doing just that.

Naruto kinda understood how the signs worked after Iruka's lesson, at least a lot more than the rest, and apparently Kurama was able to keep up and provide his own advice to the class alongside it, much to Iruka's happiness. Soon enough, the class was over and it was time for Taijutsu before the day ended. Nothing really happened in Taijutsu class, and soon the Fox Squad, as Naruto lovingly called them, gathered up in the Hokage's office, having been let in by Hiruzen himself.

"Hey old man!" Naruto grinned as he walked in, before being put in his place by Sakura telling him to hold respect for the most important man of the village. The rest of the group went in, but each one kept a worried gaze towards Sasuke and Sakura. Hiruzen had heard of the situation, and merely sent his apologies and assured them that the teacher would be getting her due punishment. Naruto's grin fell a bit into a more serious look as he calmly escaped the headlock Sakura had put him in. Hiruzen looked surprised at this as he activated the security seals surrounding the room, "I came to explain to the rest of the squad about the Genjutsu placed over the rest of the students, as well as the rest of the mission." Naruto explained as soon as Hiruzen had finished his task.

"Ahh..." Hiruzen said in realization, "I trust you know the stakes involved in this decision?" Hiruzen tested with a firm gaze upon Naruto. Naruto simply nodded in response, offering no words of encouragement for the other members of his squad, who were starting to look slightly nervous. "I see, then I'm glad you all gathered here. I will allow this to be your meeting room for the length of this mission. Now then...this mission..." Hiruzen started explaining the mission to the squad, watching as the looks of the squad slowly turned more and more determined as they went through. Even Sasuke, who Hiruzen had thought would be a problem with the rising tensions of the Uchiha clan as of late, had agreed to the mission.

Sasuke walked up besides Naruto and locked eyes with Hiruzen. As if reading his mind, Sasuke opened his mouth, "I been hearing from my brother about some problems happening between the clan and the village, is there anything I can do to help?" Sasuke asked, concerned over the rest of his family.

"Sasuke, do you need me to try and sneak in with a couple of pranks and find out?" Naruto asked, equally as serious as his near brother was in his question. Hiruzen's eye twitched as he coughed.

"No need, I have your brother helping hold ties with the clan together, but I might need your help with convincing your family to not revolt against us. It seems the Genjutsu wasn't just upon your classmates, but I never heard of a Uchiha falling for genjutsu before..." Hiruzen said as Naruto snickered at this along with Kurama. Hiruzen looked confused.

"I kinda put Sasuke under genjutsu all the time as a way to send messages!" Naruto snickered out as Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"The only way for an Uchiha that has opened his Sharingan to become placed under a genjutsu is if the other person either has a much stronger hold on their genjutsu, or if it's against another person with Sharingan." Sasuke explained, "It's weird, because it looks like a grand majority of the clan has been under this based on how my trips in the village have been. Shisui-nii has been rushing around in an attempt to try and fix this with Itachi-nii, but I don't know..." Sasuke seemed concerned and scared about the situation.

The Fox Squad looked over with sympathy for their comrade. While Sasuke never told them about his family, they knew it had to be rough given his personality, and the fan girls don't seem to have helped in any of it. He was open sure, but that didn't mean he had his quiet moments. In a sense...he was a lot like Naruto in that regard. Naruto walked up to Sasuke with a light hug.

"Don't worry Teme, your family is going to be alright, believe it." Naruto said with a calmer tone than he felt. Sasuke smiled on back as he accepted the hug.

"...Yeah." He said simply as Hiruzen coughed, bringing their attention on back to him.

"If there is anything you can help with, I'll let you know Sasuke. But for now...I need you to focus on this mission with the others. It might take a while, but I believe you all can do it." Hiruzen assured the young Uchiha.

"Is there any way we can get rid of the Genjutsu upon them? The classmates don't know they're under an genjutsu and I don't believe Sasuke can snap each and every one of them out in the way he did with Sakura." Shikamaru spoke aloud with his question, noting how it was a slow and steady process of systematically snapping the students out of it. Hiruzen sighed.

"That's the problem, it looks like even Inochi, Ino's father, has also been placed under this Genjutsu and that's why he has been encouraging Ino's behavior instead of having her focus on her studies. We had him visit our Mistress of Genjutsu, and she said that all she could get was that it used the person's sense of smell to activate the genjutsu, before binding itself into the chakra flow. Sasuke's desire for Sakura to snap back to normal stopped the flow of chakra in her body long enough to allow the awareness to break free." Hiruzen explained, somewhat helpless before Naruto's eyes lit up.

"I got it!" Naruto exclaimed. "I found a book with Kurama's help when I returned to the library in my off time about something called Fuinjutsu, and one of the lower tiered seals there allows the user to stop the chakra flow in one's body! If we used that..." Naruto said with a grin.

"Yeah, but your writing skill is nowhere near clean enough to write the seal in a way that won't cause damage to one's body. That isn't a bad idea on the other hand..." Shikamaru said in response, looking towards Hiruzen.

Hiruzen smiled, "Okay Naruto, thankfully I have a seal-making friend I can contact, and we can get the Chakra suppression seals off of him. That was a great idea of you, but what caused you to have an interest in Fuinjutsu?" Hiruzen asked, making a note to contact Jiraiya about it in the next note he sends about the mission going on. Naruto shrugged.

"Uh, a part of my brain pointed the book out, saying I might be good at it, but it wasn't sure about it." Naruto tried to explain, Kurama rolling his eyes at Naruto's attempt of hiding his existence still.

_**"You do know that eventually they'll find out, right? Hinata and Choji don't seem to mind." **_Kurama snickered a bit as Naruto mentally rolled his eyes.

_"Yeah, but they got enough on their back, I'll tell them when things calm down a bit!" _Naruto explained back, noting all of the stuff that happened over the last week alone. Kurama couldn't really disagree.

_**"Yeah, just don't let it get to the point where you forget to tell them." **_Kurama mentally shrugged at him, looking back at Hiruzen once more.

"Well, do you think you'll be good at it?" Hiruzen asked, knowing exactly what Naruto had meant.

Naruto shrugged, "I would have to practice my handwriting a lot, but after that I believe I can make use of them, my brain just soaked up the seal work and it comes really easily. It's more that my handwriting doesn't allow the detail I need for it, meaning I miss a lot of the seal.." Naruto sighed, taking a piece of paper and a pen from Hiruzen, who merely looked amused, and proceeded to draw a complicated seal that even made Hiruzen terrified by the seal work. It was one that would act as a master seal in order to store more inside of it. Simple in concept sure, but the one Naruto drew was modified in a sense to allow for the seal to become a reactant for whatever explosive or compound he put inside of it. It was rough, to the point where it was unusable, but the concept was readily there. "See?" Naruto said in exasperation as he finished the seal, disappointed in his own seal work.

"Wow, I see what you mean Naruto." Hiruzen said in honestly, impressed and terrified by the seal Naruto had drawn. "How did you even find out about this?" Hiruzen asked as Naruto shrugged.

"It kinda just came to me." Naruto admitted before the seals lowered again.

"Lord Hokage." An Anbu member dropped by, entering via the window, with a scroll in his hands. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but this was urgent." He said, handing the scroll over before disappearing. Hiruzen looked towards Naruto and the others before nodding.

Once the group left, he opened the scroll up, "Oh...that's troublesome..." Hiruzen sighed in response to what it read. Turning his head to his right, where he knew a certain copy ninja was standing, "Kakashi, follow up on this intel." Hiruzen said simply, watching the scroll vanish alongside said ninja. Sighing, Hiruzen hoped that what he read was not true...yet he had a sinking feeling that some of the people on that list were indeed Academy traitors.

* * *

Nothing really happened for the next few days, other than the lesson Iruka gave the class Friday about the different types of Ninja. Sakura had kept up and said that she was more interested in healing, not wishing for anyone else to get hurt for her and being able to do nothing about it. The rest of the Fox Squad approved of the motion and helped her with getting the books and beginning jutsu to start her on the path. They started with trying to find how to free the rest of their classmates, but there wasn't much they could do when their classmates didn't realize they were underneath a genjutsu to begin with. Sighing, the group found themselves unable to pursue it for quite a while, with even the route of trying to find Ino's house not going well. While some were freed from it, the grand majority of the class still found themselves under the genjutsu.

* * *

_The day after Choza left for his mission._

"How far?" Choza asked the quiet Yamato. They were heading off for their mission and were to join up with one of the great Sannin for it.

"We're not that far out, my cover for the mission is Yamamoto, remember that." Yamato explained before the two jumped down from the tree line they were rushing through, "We're about a hundred meters out, but we have to proceed the rest of the way on foot to maintain our cover." Yamato continued, changing his clothes with more citizen like ones. Afterwards he put on a pair of false glasses to try and portray a look of innocence. He couldn't do much about the blank stare he always seemed to carry, but it was believable enough to pass the look off as a character quirk rather than a something that would immediately fail the mission.

Choza on the other hand merely took off his headband and replaced it with a missing nin equivalent from the land of the Rice Patties, then after taking off his jonin jacket and storing it in a seal on the back of his original headband, which was stored within a seal lined to a bag he carried that he would claim contains the ingredients he had hunted down during the time he had been away. After all of that, he put a pair of earrings on, watching as his face had changed nearly completely from a genjutsu contained within the earrings themselves. With a smile upon his now much fat-reduced face, he along with the newly dubbed Yamamoto walked along.

It took a while, but the two gathered around a food truck that seemed really popular with the poor villagers as they gathered around it. A smile upon their faces, they slowly walked through the crowd, watching as they looked at Choza and moved to let the two through with a look of deep respect.

"Why hello there Konochi-san, I hope your trip's been profitable." Jiraiya said to Choza with a smile upon his face as he handed out yet another bowl of soup to one of the villagers. The newly dubbed Konochi rolled his eyes in response, as if to an old friend.

"Hello Jiraiya-sensei. I take it you're here to take me in?" Konochi asked, raising his hands as if to allow Earth-styled handcuffs, as many of the villagers glared at Jiraiya in disbelief. Jiraiya had heard that Choza's alter ego Konochi was popular with the rain village, but he didn't know they liked him this much.

"No, not at all! You're not from our village so why would we mess with you when all we heard from you was that you were helping out other villages, and that your village simply didn't want you to go? You're not even on our bingo books for crying out loud!" Jiraiya hastily assured him and the villagers as Konochi smiled in understanding, lowering his hands as he looked around, noting Jiraiya's..._attempt_ at cooking soup.

"I'm glad to hear it, so...what's that?" Konochi said, looking at the bowl of soup with not-so-hidden disgust.

"Why it's my homemade soup of course!" Jiraiya said proudly, to which Konochi pushed him back with a scoff and headed to his food truck kitchen. About five minutes later, he returned with a dish looking not that different from Jiraiya's. Two villagers gathered around for a taste test, one for Konochi's, and the other for Jiraiya's.

"Please try this if you will." Konochi smiled towards one of the poor villagers that had been waiting nearby. Hesitantly, the lady walked up to him and took a sip of the soup...then another. Soon enough, the bowl of soup was empty and she looked completely satisfied, some of the life flowing back through her weary veins.

Meanwhile the other villager simply spit out the food with an envious look towards the villager that ate Konochi's bowl. Jiraiya was slightly dejected, but Konochi assured him that he can do better. Grinning, Jiraiya and Konochi continued serving people, working together on their soups in order to feed the villagers gathered around them.

* * *

Naruto groaned lightly as he got up for the final exams of the Pre-Academy. Apparently, it had been a full year since the Fox Squad took up their first mission and Choza still had yet to return from whatever mission he was on. Choji acted like he didn't care much, but Naruto still saw the pained looks of sadness whenever Choji looked towards the Akimichi compound whenever they walked past. They had managed to get the Genjutsu off of most of the classmates; however, Ino still couldn't be snapped out of it and instead taken to avoiding them all, and without her, they had no way to get to Inochi. His head felt fuzzy for a reason beyond him, but he figured it was just the headache of just waking up and nothing more.

Naruto barely even noticed the door opening to his room as he started getting dressed, lazily using the cleaning jutsu to not even bother with taking a shower while Choji and Shikamaru walked inside the room.

Shikamaru rolled his eyes at his friend's antics. He had kept silent for quite a while, after his suggestion went ignored by Naruto of simply having Sasuke ask Ino about where she lived, and after that, refused to help out...but he had a mission to do, and his father was starting to get annoyed at Shikamaru for his childishness on a high ranking mission, "You guys have any luck finding out how the Genjutsu off of Ino?" Shikamaru asked, digging into the obvious wound. Naruto growled at him from the jab, not at all happy with the fact that they had made no progress in all the time while Choji merely looked at him with a frown.

"Oh yeah!? What bright idea do you have then!?" Naruto spat out to Shikamaru, who smirked in response and at first simply shrugged. Choji grunted a bit before punching him on his shoulder.

"Shikamaru, I understand you hate being interrupted in explanations, but now is not the time for this! It's been over two weeks at this point!" Choji yelled, frustrated at his friend's inaction as Shikamaru rubbed the wound with a sigh before starting to explain.

"Why not just ask my dad? He was on the same team as Ino and Choji's fathers, so he might know where they live. And when we learn that, we can bring Ms. Kurenai with us in order to break him out of it. Once we do that, we can get Ino out of it and try to ask them what caused them to get under it." Shikamaru suggested, not really as mad as they were when the Hokage refused to tell them where Ino and her father lived in order to test them for future missions. Choji decided to speak up, still annoyed by his friend holding this information from them out of spite.

"Didn't the Hokage say that Ms. Kurenai couldn't break him out of the Genjutsu?" Choji asked, confused by Shikamaru's plan.

"Yes, but we can also bring Sakura and Sasuke with us. Since Sasuke seems to be the key to the Genjutsu, while Sakura still remains the only one that is able to break them out of it. If the pattern continues, with the three of them with us, we can break the two out and begin on our way of seeing what caused the Genjutsu to be placed in the first place. Ino's family runs a flower shop, but no one has been there for just over a year now, almost perfectly to the day that the Genjutsu was probably laid." Shikamaru continued with a bored look upon his face. Naruto's eye twitched with annoyance as Choji blocked the door knowingly. Shikamaru sighed as he muttered how troublesome under his breath.

_**"Just...don't. Please." **_Kurama begged in equal annoyance, knowing how troublesome and lazy Naras were after how long Naruto had been staying with the Nara family. Naruto ignored him for once, much to Kurama's displeasure.

"WHY DIDN'T YOU SAY THIS SOONER!?" Naruto yelled out, hearing the mental groan from Kurama during which. Shikamaru rolled his eyes with a smirk.

"You ignored me the last time I suggested it, saying you had a better plan." Shikamaru reminded him, as Naruto relented with a grunt before the trio used the Cleaning Jutsu once more, knowing that tomorrow they had to shower in order to not stink.

The atmosphere between the three were tense as they looked at each other. "So, you two ready for the exam?" Choji asked, hoping to break the tension as Naruto hmph'd away, hands crossed in a clear state of anger. Shikamaru shrugged.

"It's not that hard an exam, and I think we're all more than ready for it. The only one that's having trouble is Naruto with the Clone Jutsu." Shikamaru explained as Naruto growled.

"It's not my fault! I keep telling you all-" Naruto yelled back as Shikamaru waved it off.

"That you simply have too much Chakra, believe me Naruto, I know." Choji rolled his eyes at the answer.

"So, what do you want to d-" Choji started saying before heading to Naruto's bedroom window with a look of curiosity. "That's weird..." He mumbled as Naruto looked in confusion.

"Choji, what's wrong?" Naruto asked as Choji pointed to the birds rushing on overhead, but Shikamaru was the one to answer curtly.

"The village is on alert. Dad was telling me about what the birds meant, if they're in a V formation, it's a Level one emergency, u for level two and so on and so forth...why are we in a Level one emergency...?" Shikamaru mumbled aloud as the three rushed outside of the house without a second thought, worried for their friends, and wondering what could possibly be putting the village in a state of alarm.

* * *

Tension filled the air as the three ran through to the main village area, ninja rushing on past them and everyone just trying to get through. People rushed towards their homes and Shikamaru noticed that not a single Uchiha police officer was in sight.

"Shi-Shikamaru, what's happening?" Choji stuttered on out as he tried avoiding the crowd struggling to get back.

"H-HEY! KNOCK IT OFF!" Naruto yelled to no avail, still getting pushed and shoved wherever, and not all of it was on accident.

Shikamaru barely kept the three of them above the ground and not falling as he rushed to the alleyways to get out of the way of the others. "I don't know Choji, but whatever it is...it can't be good..." Shikamaru said as Naruto looked to the roof and gulped. "Naruto...what are you doing?" Shikamaru asked as Naruto put Chakra on the soles of his feet.

"I'll get up top and try to find out what's happening!" Naruto said as he starting running up towards the roof. His feet started slipping a bit, but he managed to grab on to a fire escape ladder overhead in order to keep climbing up. "You guys try finding out what's happening down there, let's meet back up when we can!" Naruto hollered on down.

Shikamaru nodded. "We'll make sure that Sakura and the others are okay, I think this has something to do with Sasuke's family so make sure he's safe!" He yelled on back as the trio split up to cover more ground.

"Sasuke..." Naruto whispered to himself as Kurama nodded.

_**"We won't let anything happen to him. Let's just hurry up." **_Kurama said simply as the two ran off in silence, the flame becoming larger and larger as Uchiha clan members blocked the way in.

"It's our time now!" One said, but Naruto just growled and pushed on past with twin paint buckets in their faces. "Sasuke!" He yelled as the two stilled, unable to do anything while the Academy student ran past. Naruto rushed through the area as more and more Uchiha members rushed at him, only the ones above Chunnin rank escaping unscathed and rushing back at him. "SASUKE!" Naruto yelled louder as the scene fell away beyond him, surprising even Kurama at how well he fell for the Genjutsu.

A young man stood before then in the void of the Genjutsu. "Hello Naruto." He said simply as Sasuke walked forward.

"Sasuke! You're okay!" Naruto said as he rushed on past, with the man smiling as he looked towards the two.

"Itachi-nii, why are you doing this!?" Sasuke cried, phasing through Naruto's outstretched arms, much to his confusion.

Itachi smiled as he looked towards the two. "You both need to know this." Itachi said as his eyes spun, blood leaking out from the Mangekyou Sharingans as the two felt dizzy, unable to even stand as Itachi smiled.

"Naruto, you need to learn of this, to help my little brother out with his own pain. This was events that had happened before you met Sasuke, just the day before in fact while you slept, and Sasuke needs to remember. Please help him for my own sake." Itachi asked as Naruto gritted his teeth against the pain, struggling to his feet.

"O-Okay, b-but why n-now?" Naruto stuttered out against the pain, it fading away bit by bit as Itachi looked towards him.

"Because he's on the move, and after what you and Kakashi-sempai found out, I fear that you might be in danger, he repressed his memories, and you are the only one that I could find connected to him before I'm found in the village. I need your help, please Naruto." Itachi begged as Naruto grinned.

"Just leave it to me! I'll help him out, but can you help my friends out? I think they also got caught in this whole situation and don't know what's happening." Naruto grinned before sheepishly asking. Itachi nodded with a smile.

"They're already getting their own explanation of the events as we speak." Itachi asked as Kurama couldn't hold back the growl, surprising both Naruto and himself at the animosity behind it.

**"Didn't you say you could only find Naruto?" **Kurama growled out as Itachi nodded, not looking the least bit scared.

"Indeed I did, and I meant it. Shikamaru and Choji aren't as close to him as you are, you and the girl were the ones that forced him to open up after it all happened, but I don't have the time to tell you more. This will be more than enough to explain to him, so please you two, find Sasuke and pass on this message." Itachi pleaded before staring Naruto and Kurama in the eyes, his Sharingans spinning rapidly as he stared at them, both feeling numb as a raven flew from Itachi into Naruto's mouth.

The world turned to black as the scene faded away, leaving Naruto in a state of confusion before a loud slam came from his bedroom door. "Naruto! What the heck just happened!?" Choji's yells pierced the slog Naruto's mind was crawling at. "Naruto!" Choji yelled again as Naruto groaned, trying to move the covers off of him, but just generally trying to recover over whatever had happened, even Kurama wasn't responding at all.

"Mmm up..." He groaned out as he finally opened his eyes, noting Choji standing by the side of his bed about ready to flip him clean out of the bed itself as Naruto groaned. "Man he gave me a headache...I take it he talked to you too?" Naruto asked as Choji nodded.

"Yeah, he was saying something about you passing a message along to Sasuke, right?" Choji asked as Shikamaru sighed, entering the room himself.

"Indeed he was, I take it that was Sasuke's older brother given how he referred to Sasuke as his _little brother_, meaning it had to be Itachi Uchiha." Shikamaru said, bringing out his bingo book and showing the S rank bounty on him. "He's a huge Genjutsu artist, and apparently we were all under his Genjutsu the whole time?" Shikamaru for once seemed unsure, taking up a meditating stance as he tried to think about it, leaving Naruto to look towards Choji.

"Well, I guess we need to look for Sasuke? Maybe he's over by his home still?" Choji asked as Shikamaru sighed.

"You do realize that we're all going to meet up at the Academy, right? We have our final exams today, we all decided to meet up there before to talk about what we'll do next. This'll be what'll get us into the main Academy, as well as show what we'll be learning from here on out." Shikamaru explained with a sigh as Naruto grinned.

"Then let's just head on over to his house then swing on back to the Academy!" Naruto suggested as Choji smirked victoriously.

"Yeah, let's do it!" He grinned as Shikamaru groaned.

"How troublesome..." He sighed once again as they got dressed, heading on out for real this time in order to see Sasuke.

* * *

"Sasuke!" Naruto cried out as the three of them walked towards Sasuke's house, the once peaceful, yet empty, Uchiha compound seemingly haunted to them as Naruto shivered a bit, jumping at Shikamaru's poking. "W-Why did you do that!?" Naruto yelped as Shikamaru smirked, pointing towards in front of Sasuke's house to see Sasuke walking towards the group with a mixture of confusion and annoyance on his face.

"Hey Naruto, why are you guys here? I thought we were meeting in a few hours by the Academy?" Sasuke asked with a raised eyebrow as Naruto sighed, looking back towards Shikamaru and Choji, both who also looked awkwardly confused about the situation. Naruto turned back towards the confused Sasuke.

"Uh...your older brother wanted us to pass you a message, but I don-" Naruto tried to say as a crow wretched itself out of his mouth and flew over to Sasuke. Naruto hacked and coughed a bit, but Sasuke forced himself not to scream as the memories were ripped out of the box he had shoved them into, all while a Genjutsu came over him, erasing the forged memories that Itachi had put in him and replacing them with the correct versions.

Sasuke looked around as Itachi appeared with a smile, _"If you're hearing this Sasuke, then...I'm probably already away from the village." _The Itachi told him before continuing on, _"I didn't tell you the whole truth for your protection, but now...you deserve the truth." _Itachi said as Sasuke finally let loose the roar he held in.

* * *

The moment must have only been just that, a moment, but for Sasuke, it felt like an eternity as Naruto, Shikamaru, and Choji watched the sleeping Uchiha in front of them. Naruto gulped as he looked towards the others, unsure on what was happening, but Kurama merely sighed.

_**"I...don't know, but he doesn't look like he's in any danger."**_ Kurama said, gritting his teeth in frustration, unaware of what about those eyes seemed to make him furious, and why it drove some part of him insane. Kurama kept those thoughts from Naruto, but apparently not enough as Naruto gulped again.

_"You okay Kurama?" _Naruto asked, as Kurama sighed.

_**"It's nothing..." **_Kurama dismissed it, not wishing to speak more of it, and instead looking at Sasuke, _**"He's waking up." **_Kurama warned as Sasuke seemed to grunt a bit before blinking slowly.

"Danzo..." Sasuke groaned out a bit, the memories rushing at him still as Naruto looked confused.

"Danzo?" Naruto asked as Sasuke looked towards the group of three.

"He dragged my brother out of the village, Itachi's gone because of him." Sasuke said as Naruto gritted his teeth.

"Okay then, the Fox Squad is on the case!" Naruto grinned as Shikamaru and Choji looked towards him, "We'll clear Itachi's name and bring Danzo to justice!" Naruto continued on as Shikamaru shook his head in disbelief.

"We'll need some proof first, a known criminal's word isn't going to mean much you two." Shikamaru countered as Naruto smirked.

"Well, remember what we're doing with the Academy records and trying to find the traitor. If there's records of those, and those weird mask wearers that were in the sewers..." Naruto said, as Shikamaru blinked in understanding.

"Oh I see, you think that there might be some records about Itachi, and that those mask wearers are connected to it?" Shikamaru said as Naruto grinned with a nod.

"Yup!" Naruto said as Choji looked a bit against the idea.

"Didn't Kakashi-san and the others say they would handle it?" Choji asked as Naruto sighed.

"Yeah...I don't know if I can get that much info out of them..." Naruto said as Sasuke slowly got up, getting out of Naruto's hands all the while.

"I won't forgive him...I have to save Itachi..." Sasuke spoke lowly, scaring Naruto slightly at the intensity of it as Shikamaru scoffed once more.

"There's nothing you can do at the moment Sasuke." Shikamaru said as Sasuke looked up towards him with a light glare in his eyes, Shikamaru sighed with a mutter of 'troublesome' before continuing on, "We're not even Genin, and Danzo is powerful enough that even Chunnin would lose against him. We need to get more powerful, and have more information and proof before we can do anything against him." Shikamaru explained as they all got up, noting a bit more of the Fox Squad seeing them and walking towards them. "Let's let the others know, and then once we become Chunnin, we'll head over to Hiruzen and tell him about everything we know. Understood?" Shikamaru asked as Naruto and Choji readily nodded with smiles, while Sasuke nodded reluctantly.

"Itachi-nii-san..." Sasuke muttered lowly as they walked onward.

* * *

_Three Months Later_

"I think we should save Ino." Sakura had spoken up at the gathered squad in front of her. Sasuke and Shino shied away from the group proper, but the members all stared at her. "One, our mission is to save all those under the Genjutsu, but more than that, she's our friend, so we can't leave her trapped under something beyond her control!" Sakura explained as Sasuke hmph'd. He had regressed into wearing a scowl upon his face, and just the mere mention of the incident would drive him to close himself off from the world, to which only Naruto and Sakura had been able to bring him out of it.

"But Sakura! She went and called you that mean word! She full on insulted you in front of everyone! She doesn't deserve it!" Naruto whined back somewhat half heartily. If he was honest, he knew that that wasn't why he didn't want to release them. It was more that he didn't want to be sure that Ino only did that under the Genjutsu or not. What if she had full-heartily meant the words from back then? Naruto was more scared for Sakura than angry at Ino and everyone except Sakura herself knew it.

"How could you say that!?" Sakura lashed back in blinded anger. Naruto flinched back onto the chair he had sat down. The Fox Squad had been in the Hokage's office for going on an hour now. While the Hokage didn't mind it, Sakura didn't want to take advantage of the hospitality of the decision. "She's a potential teammate, just like any of us in the class. So why would you turn your back on her like that!?" Sakura continued, not noticing in her moment of rage the hurt expression that appeared on her friend's face.

"I know that..." Naruto sighed out in what was little more than a hurt whisper. Sakura didn't hear it.

"We have to help her, and that's that!" Sakura ended her 'point' with a hmph, looking away from him towards Sasuke, "After all, Sasuke still has to deal with Ino trying to always go after him, remember that after we freed them from the Genjutsu, most of the other classmates didn't really go after Sasuke, saying something about 'He doesn't like me and actively avoids me, why should I go after him?' or something." Sakura waved it off with closed eyes, which led her to missing Sasuke's flinch at that. Shikamaru snickered at that.

"Sakura, do you even know how to free the two of them?" Sasuke asked calmly, but still with the scowl upon his face. He had taken to silence in the months past, and no matter what they did, he was no better than Shino. (Shino wasn't entirely sure if they registered his existence, but a quick smirk from Sasuke, Shikamaru and a smile from Naruto in his direction proved otherwise. He shared a smile back at them.) Sakura nervous laughter caused Sasuke to just roll his eyes at how he nailed it on the head.

"If we free her father, most likely he'll free Ino if you really want to do that. Sakura, aren't you afraid of if Ino meant it even without the Genjutsu applied to her?" Naruto said, even as Kurama tried to stop him. Naruto didn't understand why until he saw Sakura. "Oh Fu-" Naruto nearly cursed before having pain shoot up the left side of his face, being punched into the nearby wall, which hilariously enough was the Hokage's desk, where he sat there rubbing his face in deep pain, "Ow..." He groaned.

Sakura Hmph'ed once more, "Any more bright ideas!?" Sakura demanded of the group, who were magically silent from the display. Even Sasuke did everything he could to avoid her eyesight. The only one that dared speak was Shino of all people.

"I believe that Naruto did have a point there. Why? Well, her father would be someone with understanding of the Genjutsu, and it seems those two had the most direct exposure to the Genjutsu alongside you, so he might be better suited to freeing her." Shino said, having gotten into a habit of explaining his words ever since he entered the Academy's first year in his second year. (None of them were happy of having to add a year every time they say what Academy year they were in.) Sakura thought about it, not minding the blood that had stained her fist as she did so.

During the silence, even Shino couldn't hide the nervousness he had, Sakura had been almost bloodthirsty ever since the Incident as they were now referring to the Uchiha Massacre. After they all started researching in order to help Sasuke get revenge, they had found the man he had referred to as Danzo. A man by the name of Danzo Shimura that was on the Citizen's Council. They were planning on taking their info to Hiruzen soon, but Naruto brought up a point that Shino would have thought would have come from Shikamaru, who was also surprised by it.

'Wouldn't the Old Man have known about this to begin with? Sasuke said that if Itachi didn't do it, then Danzo would have also killed Sasuke himself, who's to say he doesn't already know and reluctantly agreed in order to prevent a civil war?' Naruto had said...so here they were. That had only been about a week ago now, since most of the Squad couldn't find time to meet up before. All of this info flashed through Shino's mind as he saw Sakura stare at him, fresh blood still dripping off her fist. Struggling to hide his newfound anxiety, Shino kept the shudders as small as he could...which just happened to be near buckling down in fear. Sakura's sigh shook him to his core as she looked sad.

"You guys don't need to be afraid of me..." Sakura said sorrowfully as Choji's mouth opened right before Shikamaru slammed into him to stop the words he knew they were all thinking._ 'OF COURSE WE DO! WE'RE AFRAID OF YOU TRYING TO PUNCH US AS BAD AS YOU DO NARUTO!'_ The thought screamed in their heads. Sakura sought out comfort from Sasuke, who couldn't hide the minute flinch that came when she hugged him. Sakura didn't mind though and continued hugging him, relaxing when his hand awkwardly hugged back. "Let's get going, we need to find Ino and her father to free them!" Sakura said with newfound confidence, leading the terrified Fox Squad away...without Naruto.

Hiruzen didn't know how to feel when he saw his desk in shambles and an unconscious Naruto in the center of the shreds. It looked like he was first punched in the cheek before another one came to his gut. Sweat dripping from his cheek did nothing to hide Hiruzen's fear. _Oh god is there another Tsunade in our village? _His mind couldn't help thinking. Instead of thinking anything more, Hiruzen instead went to his desk and pulled out a, thankfully, intact bottle of wine. Downing it slowly, Hiruzen ignored the Naruto-sized splinters in his desk.

* * *

The Fox Squad seemed to split a bit on the way to the Nara compound. Shino said that he was going to scout around the village and see if his beetles were old enough to try scouting for Ino and her father's Chakras. Hinata said she wanted to practice her Byakugan to help find the two. Everyone was silently wondering when she walked into the room. Turns out she had just been sleeping before they left. Her father had been working her to the bone lately and she couldn't help but start sleeping at random times in order to rest her wounds. They hoped she grew out of that as time went on cause it made it hard to know if she was there or not. Sasuke said he had wanted to find Naruto and that they would meet up after getting some lunch, which led to Sakura's stomach loudly growling in reply and, while laughing nervously, asked to join along. All in all, it was only Shikamaru and Choji that had went over to the house.

Sighing, the two walked inside the door to the Nara home. Shikaku opened the door with a grumble as he shooed the two inside. Bemused, the two walked in and sat on down. "What is it Shikamaru?" Shikaku asked, both curious and wanting to fall back asleep by his favorite tree.

Shikamaru, long used to his father's default expression of tired, merely rolled his eyes at his father's tone, "We're trying to find Ino's house, we figured since you were teammates with her father, that you would know where it is." Shikamaru asked, with Shikaku being patient and letting him finish.

"Oh, okay then. You'll find them here, was wondering when you would ask kid." Shikaku shrugged, writing the address down on a sticky note and passing it to Shikamaru. "Been a while since I was able to talk to the guy, he was acting weird last time, to the point of me accusing him of being drunk. Hope you break the Genjutsu on him kid." Shikaku waved the two off after saying to come home around seven since Yoshino, Shikamaru's mother, would be cooking something. After agreeing, the two went back up to meet up at Ichiraku Ramen with the others.

* * *

Sasuke wasn't entirely sure what he had been expecting when Sakura asked to join him. She hadn't been nearly as big of a pain as when she was under the Genjutsu, respecting his personal space and the like, but...Sasuke didn't know the word to place it under. It didn't matter, shaking his head slightly, he started to drift back towards where he had last seen Naruto, in the Hokage's office of all things. They were just heading down the main street, seeing the tower get closer as Sasuke noticed Sakura slow down. Looking back with a look of curiosity, he saw her eyes widen in what looked to be fear, following her eyesight, he found Ino.

She had a packet of flowers in her hand and was looking around the street, yet from the crowd walking around the two, she never found Sasuke and Sakura. Grabbing Sakura's hand somewhat forcibly to snap her out of it, Sasuke led her down a side street, noting that Ino's fee started walking away during which.

"You okay?" Sasuke whispered when the coast looked clear. Sakura's brow still reeked of sweat, noting that the strands were still falling down the fact, but still she nodded just a tad too fast. Sasuke sighed. "Then let's get going, we still gotta find Naruto." Sasuke said, looking towards the end of the side street they found themselves on. He wasn't entirely sure why he had beads of sweat falling down his face, but he was relieved to see no one there as they exited off of main street.

"...And that's how I totally took down Kakashi-Sensei!" Sasuke rolled his eyes at Naruto's voice. He did snicker when he remembered that while Naruto had 'beaten' Kakashi-Sensei, it was only when Kakashi-Sensei was taking a rest after a long night out finding clues over whatever was happening in the Academy and Naruto had decided to prank him by putting his hand in water.

"Wow, so cool!" Sasuke and Sakura heard a new voice join the conversation, and decided to reveal themselves. They found Naruto enthusiastically talking to a small kid with a giant scarf around his neck. Naruto had a large shit-eating grin of arrogance on his face as Kurama felt Sasuke and Sakura's presence, but spitefully didn't tell Naruto. Let him deal with his own messes.

"You tell him about what happen after that?" Sasuke smirked after Naruto failed to notice him.

"What do you me-" Naruto started before seeing Sasuke. His grin instantly turned nervous, "O-O-Oh...hey Sasuke!" He laughed nervously as well. The little kid looked towards Sasuke with confusion written on his face.

"What happened afterwards?" The kid asked.

"N-N-NOTHING AT ALL!" Naruto yelled with stutter intact, begging Sasuke with his eyes not to tell. Sasuke's smirk grew evermore.

"Oh just merely that Kakashi used a tech-" Sasuke started explaining before Naruto jumped him and covered his mouth.

"Sasuke's hungry, well Konohamaru, I'll see you Monday!" Naruto said, quickly shooing the kid away, who just looked confused at the act. After Konohamaru was readily gone. Naruto glared at Sasuke, getting off of him in the process. "Why did you have to go and do that!?" Naruto whined towards his friend. Sasuke chuckled in response.

"Nice to see you too Naruto, we were just looking for you." Sasuke replied without a single answer, annoying Naruto just a tad more. "Want some ramen?" Sasuke sweat-dropped by the instant 180 Naruto's attitude took when he heard ramen.

"RAMEN!? YEAH LET'S GO!" He yelled happily.

"Sakura, you okay?" Sasuke asked as Naruto rapidly headed in the direction of Ichiraku Ramen, (No one truly understood, but no matter where Naruto was, even if he never seen the place before, he could always route the route to Ichiraku Ramen. Sakura sighed lightly, still easily torn up by seeing Ino earlier. A light frown overtook Sasuke's face, having noticed that with all Sakura's bravo earlier, she always froze if she even saw Ino.

"Yeah..." Sakura said in what nearly amounted to a whisper. Sasuke, while not at all convinced, dropped it for her sake.

"Okay then, let's get going in that case." Sasuke said, starting to head off to follow Naruto a bit before turning and seeing Sakura had yet to move.

"What...what if he was right? Who's to say that Ino didn't mean what she had said even if she was out of that Genjutsu? Should I release her from it?" Sakura said, head down to try and mask the tears that Sasuke could see falling to the ground, "Did I lose my best friend for good?" She whispered in a voice that Sasuke had to strain in order to hear. Sighing, Sasuke merely patted her head somewhat awkwardly. Sakura flinched slightly, looking up with puffy cheeks from her tears.

"Don't worry about it. I'm sure that it was based on the Genjutsu, so if you release her from it, you'll be able to talk it out with her." Sasuke said softly with a smile upon his face, "Even if you do lose Ino," Sasuke noted the flinch and flinched slightly himself, "As much as I believe it won't happen. You would still have us, the rest of the Fox Squad as the dobe there calls it. We won't leave you and we both know that what you said back then was right. Ino is a future teammate of ours, and could easily be a part of one of the genin teams when it comes to it. It's in all of our interests to save her from the Genjutsu, and to do that, we have to save her father from it. On top of that, it's our mission from the Hokage. You weren't wrong, I think it's simply Naruto being scared for you, rather than him believing that Ino hates you for real." Sasuke explained, still in the same tone of voice, and still with a smile on his face. Sakura looked up with a smile of her own.

"Thanks Sasu-" She started to say as Naruto interrupted impatiently.

"What's taking you two so long! I've been waiting at Ichiraku for about ten minutes now before I decided to come get you two!" Naruto said before noticing the slight hug the two found themselves in. He blanked, "Oh god are you two-" Naruto said tactlessly before Sasuke noticed Sakura's anger popping up. Sending a slight flash of fear to Naruto (Sasuke would always deny it, no matter what Naruto said.) and quickly letting go of Sakura, Sasuke moved back and watched her slowly get up. "W-w-w-wait Sakura!" Naruto, afraid for his life, stuttered mercilessly.

"NARUTO!" Sakura yelled, showing flaming eyes that spelled 'Naruto must die!' to Naruto. Everyone but Sasuke thought he was exaggerating the situation. Sasuke would shake his head, with a tad of fear still noticeable in his eyes. Deciding to ignore the two, (Naruto called it leaving him behind, Sasuke didn't bother denying it.) Sasuke instead made his way to Yakiniku Q with a slight hunger for some pork chops. Not entirely knowing why, he shrugged and went in anyways. Naruto would be fine, right?

They never did get the ramen that day.

* * *

Shikamaru didn't know what to think when he saw an angry Sakura pounding a helpless Naruto to the ground, but with one look to Choji, walked towards Yakiniku Q as well.

"SHIKAMARU! CHOJI! HELP!" They ignored Naruto's screams of desperate help for the sake of their sanity. No one wanted to cross an angry Sakura.

* * *

It took a few hours, but eventually, the Fox Squad in its entirety (Shino sadly drew the short straw and had to carry a sleeping Hinata on his back. Sasuke was carrying Naruto respectfully, who had past out from the beating Sakura gave him.) gathered in front of the address Shikamaru had gotten from his father.

"Well...here we are." Shikamaru said, knocking on the door. It wasn't Ino that opened up the door, but neither was it her father. No, instead, a woman with brown hair neatly tied into a bun answered the door.

"May I help you?" She asked, confused by the group standing in front of her door. She looked and her eyes locked on to Shikamaru and Choji, before landing on Naruto.

"Hi, we wish to speak to Ino and her father please. My father says hello and that Mom will be cooking scrambled eggs and toast if you wish to join us, Ms. Yamanaka." Shikamaru said, bowing slightly in respect as he indirectly introduced her to the rest of the group. Choji also shared some sense of realization.

"Oh I'll love to, her meals are simply the best with their simplicity! Ino and her father are currently training, so I would drop by later." Ms. Yamanaka said, motioning to shut the door before Shikamaru blocked it from closing.

"We'll wait inside if it's alright with you. It's very important I assure you." Shikamaru said with just a tad of his more mature attitude showing through. Ms. Yamanaka sighed.

"Fine, but you're to stay in the living room. They'll be with you when they're done with training." Ms. Yamanaka sternly told them, pointedly looking at Naruto and Choji. Shikamaru and the group, even including a begrudging Choji, nodded their heads in understanding, before being led to the living room.

After politely placing Naruto and Hinata down next to each other on the couch, Sasuke refused to acknowledge it as dumping as he did so, and each sharing smirks or smiles at the sight of the two who institutionally grabbed onto each other in their respective sleep, the group went to work. After each deploying a clone and using a minor masking jutsu on it, they went and used them to search the house, looking high and low for any trace of the flowers that spawned the jutsu, or any sign of Ino and or Inochi. To their lack of surprise, they found no sign of either target, instead what they found was Ms. Yamanaka sighing in her room, looking towards a framed photograph longingly.

"How long are you going to stand there? At least have the decency to leave a widow to her peace." Ms. Yamanaka looked towards the invisible Shino clone, who quickly dispelled. Sighing, Ms. Yamanaka put the photo down, happy it was but a mere Bushin, and not a Kage Bushin or else they might know where she was. Getting up and wearing a smile upon her face, she figured that whatever was happening with her husband and daughter, maybe they were here to find out? They were kids anyways, and she had run out of options. Loneliness was getting to her and she didn't even meet them for five minutes and they were already looking around...might as well see why. Shaking her head out of her desperation, she walked back to the living room to meet what amounted to the kids each with about 2-3 clones each around them, telling them of what they had seen. Just because a Bushin didn't grant memories back to the user, didn't mean they didn't have a slight will of their own. They were nowhere near as effective, but they had their uses.

"Been busy haven't you?" She decided to enter and nearly burst out laughing at the terrified expressions that spread upon them. She didn't approve much of the prankster in their midsts, but he was asleep so he wasn't too bad at the moment. "So...I've been thinking, and you all seem to be looking for my husband and daughter. And seeing as five minutes didn't go by and you were already searching my house...I assume you noticed already." She continued with a stern gaze upon them, who flinched back.

"Neither of them are here, nor are they 'training', aren't they?" Shikamaru asked with a stern gaze of his own back. Sighing, Ms. Yamanaka nodded.

"Indeed. It happened a few years ago, where they seemed to..." She began, knowing the story, Shikamaru interrupted.

"Change and leave?" Shikamaru offered, to which she nodded, "They're underneath a Genjutsu, a really powerful one that had struck all of the Academy Kunoichi from our class. I believe that what caused the Genjutsu happened to be your flower shop, which would explain why Inochi is the only adult struck by it, but we can't be sure as of yet." Shikamaru explained as Ms. Yamanaka looked towards Sakura, who shyly continued.

"I...I happened to also be under the Genjutsu, but I managed to escape because S-Sasuke reminded me of who I was and why I was at the Academy to begin with. We managed to break the rest of the classmates, but Ino and her father always manages to avoid us..." Sakura sighed, flinching slightly as she remembered what happens every time she sees Ino. Sasuke put a hand on her shoulder as a sign of awareness and an act of being there for her.

"So you were hoping to visit and catch them at home?" Ms. Yamanaka asked, realization dawning at Sakura's nod, a ghost of a smile appearing on her face, "I see...I might have an idea on how to help you all." She continued before listing out the plan.

* * *

"You all in position?" Sakura spoke clearly into the transmitter next to a tired Naruto. After hearing affirmatives, Sakura looked towards the street. "You okay Naruto?" Sakura asked, looking towards her partner for the mission. Naruto grunted groggily.

"...Kurama's being mean..." Naruto mumbled, but Sakura wasn't sure what it was to mean. Before she could ask, Naruto had waved it off with a yawn. She shrugged before looking back to her position.

"Anything on your end?" Sakura asked, Naruto nodded.

"Found Ino, she's heading towards us." Naruto whispered as the two slowly walked to the side street to where they had set the trap for the two. They had to at least get Ino in order to get Inochi. After confirming Ino was indeed following them like a hawk (It helped having Naruto Henged into Sasuke) Sakura called it in.

It was pretty easy trapping her, but getting the Genjutsu off was a completely different issue. She fought against the Genjutsu removal that Sakura had created, and even when she had used it, it only made Ino angrier. What it was was a slight Genjutsu that showed them with Sasuke and him telling them to just be themselves.

"I DON'T CARE ABOUT SASUKE ANYMORE!" She yelled, shocking them all. "I just...I just want my best friend back." She whispered, and as Sasuke felt the Genjutsu that had been on her fade, he, as well as the rest of the squad, stared at Sakura.

"INO!" Sakura sobbed openly, letting her out of the trap to hug her. The two stood their mid hug, but it wasn't until her father came that the Mistress of Genjutsu herself popped out of the wall, Kurenai quickly trapped Inochi in the earth before getting to work with her own string of Genjutsu. But, none of it helped. Sakura smiled as she walked up to Kurenai. "Work to his wants, not his fears for this." She smiled, surprising Kurenai, who had not thought of that somehow (Sasuke wondered about why, but figured that Genjutsu messed with the mind and left it at that.) Inochi blinked slightly before feeling a familiar presence. Both he and Ino froze from the pure rage that overcame it.

"Ah they'll be fine." Sakura laughed nervously as she and the rest of the Fox Squad fled for their lives.

Twin screams marked the Genjutsu fully breaking.

* * *

It took a few years past the Uchiha Massacre, but eventually Choza under his alias of Konochi and his two partners of Jiraiya and Yamato under Yamamato were asked for a meeting with the new lords of the village Amegakure, or Hidden in the Rain. Over the year going, they had heard rumors of the two that now ruled being 'Lord Pein' or 'Lord Pain' depending on who they had asked and 'The Angel' but never had they been able to meet them. The year had been slow going, full of messages to and from the Hokage, including one to Jiraiya near the beginning asking for Chakra Suppression notes, which he sent a sealed supply back over with a question of why he needed them. When he had learned that his godson had taken an interest in the art of Fuinjutsu, but didn't have the writing skills needed for it, he laughed in appreciation and promised to teach him when the mission was over. He never knew an Academy student would ever take look at his Fuinjutsu book that he had sneaked in to the section years ago.

Choza's nerves seemed to be getting to him now and then as Jiraiya had noticed him on multiple nights taking a peak at a picture of Choji before falling asleep with light tears rolling down his face. He hated how he was keeping him from his son, but sadly Choza was their only real link into the place and it seemed to have worked. The group of three walked on over to the center of the village, noting how the pair of leaders lived in the tallest of the huge spiral towers in the village, before the three felt like they weighed nothing, being dragged up by gravity itself. Panicking, the three watched helplessly as they were forced to the top of the spiral, before being placed down in what looked to be a cut-out roomed within the tower itself, noting that the roof hovered with no respect to the gravity that should have been bringing it down, as well as the rain rushing around the room itself. Two people stood in front of them, one with his left hand extended towards them, while the other, a lady, stood behind him.

The man had spiky orange hair, eyes that spiraled alongside itself, and three rows of a black substance breaking up his nose. Weirdly enough, it seemed to be the same that the giant towers of Amegakure had plastered within the village. He wore a cape of colors black and red, and so did the lady with him. The lady on the other hand, seemed light on her feet, as if made of paper, parts of her fluttered here and there, breaking up what was practically pristine skin. All of this wasn't the end of the weirdness in Choza's view...no, instead.

Jiraiya's face paled like snow and stood like stone as he too registered the beings before him. Words barely choked out to a audible volume, "N-No...it can't b-be." Choza heard Jiraiya whisper out. The two bowed to him of all things in what Choza registered as respect.

"Hello Jiraiya-Sensei." The man who Choza belatedly registered as the so-called Lord Pain told Jiraiya with a smile upon his face, "Choza, Tenzo." He continued on, not even hiding the fact he knew who they were. The three paled at this as the man put them into the office, back in normal gravity as well. "I hope that your trip was well." The man said calmly, as if he didn't just defy the laws of gravity just seconds before.

"Y-Yahiko?" Jiraiya choked out, looking as if he was struggling not to shed tears before them. The man shook his head.

"Sadly, Yahiko is dead Sensei." The man seemed sorrowful as he said that.

"Nagato?" Jiraiya's words seemed to come back in what was evidently concerned confusion. Choza struggled to remember where he had heard the names before, but somehow the meaning of the names escaped him. Frustrated, Choza continued to be on guard, noting that Tenzo was doing the same. The man, nodded.

"I'm now the leader of Amegakure, and decided with you all helping my villagers, that I should extend my hand in greetings. I shall be at the next meeting of the Kage, as well as I am offering to host one of the upcoming Chunnin Exams." Nagato explained calmly, but Jiraiya seemed struggling to hide his increasing anger.

"WHERE WERE YOU THREE!?" Jiraiya burst out, struggling to contain the tears from his own guilt if the expression on his face was anything to note. "I...I searched for any sign of you all! You three seemed to disappear on me, and then I hear signs of the Paper Angel and Lord Pain? What happened to you two!? What happened to Yahiko to the point you're wearing his body as a shell of some sort!?" Jiraiya continued, not even minding the tears rushing down at this. Both the lady and Nagato paced in nervousness and guilt of their own.

"I'm sorry Sensei...we were tasked with the leadership of the village after we killed Hanzo. We couldn't get in touch with anyone because of how poor the village had been." The lady began to speak in a light voice laced in regrets.

"Y-You guys killed Hanzo? He had died only a few months ago...at the hands of the Akatsuki..." Jiraiya had said, eyes lit in recognizance. "Konan, Nagato...did you join the Akatsuki?" Jiraiya asked as Choza's eyes lit up.

"You were his old team!" Choza spoke up in sudden inspiration as the two chuckled.

"We started the organization." Nagato spoke simply. "Yahiko wanted to bring peace to the world and died in a sudden betrayal by the hands of Hanzo, who was once our ally. We wanted to focus on the village for some time until we noticed you three running around helping out with meals. Jiraiya-Sensei, I want to honor Yahiko's last words in the way I can. I'm not a leader like he was, but I can lead this village with the help of Konan." Nagato explained as Tenzo pulled Choza to the side. In a simple sign, Choza's eyes widened.

'Return' The sign hit Choza before he knew it, and with the help of Pa-Nagato, he was lowered to the ground politely. "We mean no harm, please, tell Konoha we wish to settle an...agreement. Tenzo, you may head out as well, I wish to speak to Jiraiya-Sensei alone if you do not mind." Nagato said with a smile, and soon Tenzo landed right next to Choza before the two could argue. Turning back towards the rain-filled sky, they barely saw Jiraiya's book up in the sky, and soon enough, a small flare lit into the kanji of 'Go' and as if strings on them fell, the two Konoha operatives ran with a staggering speed towards their home, alert and terrified of what would happen to their comrades. Konoha had to know of what happened, but Jiraiya would be fine.

At least, that's what the two repeatably told themselves as they rushed away urgently, knowing that the information they carried were too important to wait. On the way, they past an Anbu agent heading the opposite way. Choza knew it was one Itachi Uchiha, but the weirdest part was that he carried a small smile on his face, even as he coughed violently in his hand with redness in his eyes. There wasn't any time to lose, and the two continued onward with reckless regard as Itachi looked back towards them, before walking forward to where he was heading to. Who knew what awaited them back at the village at this point?

* * *

It took a few months, but soon the village returned to a standard regard. It was nearing graduation for the Academy students. Neji had graduated the previous year with a smirk towards Naruto, who was nearly completely bored of the Academy as a whole. He had a near mastery of the Shadow Step style he held, but no matter how he tried, the Clone Jutsu, one of the so-called 'Academy Three' always escaped him. He wasn't the best at the written tests, but his writing skill, which had once looked like chicken scratch, now looked almost passable. It wasn't enough to practice Fuinjutsu, but it was getting there. He had mastered the two Jutsus they had grabbed at the Academy Library those five years ago, being the Futon: Air bullet Jutsu and the Futon: Air Pocket Jutsu, but the Bushin always escaped him. Kurama explained multiple times that it was because he had way too much Chakra in order to control enough to even begin making a decent Bushin, but he had no alternatives.

It happened on the Monday of the Graduation week, when Naruto had dragged himself to class thinking of falling asleep once more. "Naruto, be sure that you and the rest of the Fox Squad head over to the Hokage's office after this class." Iruka-Sensei told them off-offhandedly. Shrugging, Naruto barely acknowledged the request before Iruka continued on with more stuff that he had down, but not one thing about the problem he was currently having. The Bushin was absolutely required due to some twisted law that even Iruka couldn't overcome, and no matter how much Naruto practiced, he just couldn't do it.

**_"Still bored?" _**Kurama asked tiredly. Naruto had noticed him talking less and less as time went on, but figured that he just didn't like talking all that much, Kurama scoffed, _**"It's more that there's just not much to say. This seal drains a lot of my energy in order to keep me contained, and I don't think either of us like seeing the sewer all the time. If I rest and stop talking, I can try and change that sewer into something a bit more comfortable for us both, as well as have more energy in case something happens." **_Kurama explained, which Naruto couldn't really disagree with.

_"It's not even really boredom, it's more. I already know this stuff, and no matter how much he explains the Bushin, I just can't do that. The Academy Three are worth more than every other section combined, and they can't change it due to some stupid law that the Citizen Council made without realizing it! I'm just wondering what I can do about it when everything's out of my control!" _Naruto ranted with a defeatist whine. Kurama rolled his eyes with the beginning of a glare.

_**"Look at the rest of your pack Kit." **_Kurama instructed, moving Naruto's gaze to each one of them, _**"Each one of them have been more than trying to help you in their own ways. The bookworm has been trying to read up on everything she knows on Chakra Control in order to help you get that down, knowing that you have so much Chakra that it's practically impossible. Hinata has been trying to help you with directing your Chakra Flow in order to get you to stop wasting said Chakra. The dog brat has been trying to exhaust you in order for you to more reliably practice the Bushin, knowing that the less Chakra you have the better the control. The Nara and Akimichi brats have been trying to ask their fathers for advice in order to try and get you some upper level Clone Jutsu you could try using, the Uchiha brat has been reading up on techniques that might be able to let you pass, as well as reading up on the Academy rules alongside the Nara brat in order to see if there's any loopholes you could exploit. They've been giving it their all, and here you are. Complaining that 'oh woe is me, I can't do a thing!', is that really how you want to be remembered, Kit?" **_Kurama explained, seeing each other give their own smile or smirk in response to Kurama's gaze. Naruto fell silent at this. Kurama didn't bother talking, but only sighed, leaving his kit to his own thoughts.

The rest of the class past by slowly for Naruto, who only quietly thought about his own motivation of it all. Soon enough, class was over and the squad headed up for the Hokage's office. "Come in." The man said softly, inviting the Squad in to find...Danzo. Everyone was already on alert, getting into a form that would quickly lead to attack if needed. Danzo looked amused, if angry. "Calm yourself Danzo. I have news to speak to for these young students of ours." The Hokage told him firmly, to which Danzo simply hmph'ed before walking off, not before sharing a hateful glare with Sasuke. A smirk grew upon his face as he realized something that Sasuke couldn't understand. Danzo left the room as Naruto looked at Sasuke with a weird face.

"Were your eyes always red Sasuke?" Naruto asked out of confusion, and after the Hokage brought a mirror out, sure enough, the first tomoe of both Sharingan were rotating fiercely in his eyes, burning slightly before Sasuke shut the Chakra flow to his eyes. The Hokage smiled.

"I hope my present was appreciated, because I have a favor to ask you all." Hiruzen asked simply, with an air of a light smirk upon his face while Naruto and Sasuke glared towards him at the harsh reminder of what happened to Sasuke. Naruto looked confused as he looked at the tomoe that rotated around Sasuke's eye, but couldn't place his finger on why. Hiruzen continued without even acknowledging the glares, "You all know that there's something happening in the Academy, but what you don't know is that Kakashi had been researching about it. We managed to narrow it down to two people. One is Iruka Umino, and the other is Mizuki Isumo. Both are proctors of yours, and the only two with the position needed to bring about this change. My favor to you all is to find a way to bring out the one doing it into the light, and use whatever you need to do in order to bring them to justice. This will end that A rank mission you all have, I believe in you." Hiruzen explained, bringing pictures of the two. Each began explaining their thoughts.

"I believe it might be Mizuki-Sensei. Whenever we had Taijutsu practice, he never really taught us much. Even when we brought our own forms to self practice, he would correct the things that were right into wrong versions of the form, and never touch obvious flaws in the form itself." Shikamaru started, with Kiba agreeing from his position. (If you're wondering why Kiba wasn't talking much, it was more a bet he had with Naruto, if he made it through the mission without talking, Naruto had to meet his mom and sister, if he didn't, he had to take all of them out to Yakiniku Q and pay for everything. He couldn't afford to lose...quite literally.)

"I think it's also Mizuki-Sensei. Iruka-Sensei has always stopped to catch a student up with their lessons, to the point where he has, on multiple occasions, helped Naruto with his Chakra Control training. He also looked genuinely sorry when he told us about the Bushin situation." Sakura said next, with Sasuke agreeing with her being too angry and lost in thought to do more than grunt his approval. The Hokage looked surprised at this and motioned her to explain, "Well, Naruto simply has way too much Chakra to do the Bushin. No matter how much we try to help him with Chakra Control, he simply has too much for a simple Clone Jutsu. However, it's required that he knows the Bushin itself to graduate." Sakura explained, leading to an understanding sound and a puff of smoke to sound from the pipe.

"I see...Naruto." Hiruzen motioned for the boy, who looked towards him in confusion. Hiruzen motioned him to follow him and brought out a small scroll. "I hope this helps your cause." He said simply, handing the scroll to the boy.

Naruto opened the scroll and read it aloud for the rest to hear. "Hello Naruto, I assume if you're reading this...I happen to be dead. I guess Hiruzen finally got off his butt to hand you this, and I hope you're doing well." Naruto read the first line, watching as most of the Squad burst out into whispers about who it was writing to Naruto, "I guess you don't know me, nor who you are for that matter. I'm your father, well, I guess if you're reading this I WAS your father, but details, details. My name is Nami-" Naruto's eyes widened, words catching on his throat. "No way..." He said, tears within his eyes. He looked to Hiruzen in shock, who only motioned him to continue on for everyone to hear. "N-Namikazi...Minato." Naruto stuttered on it, unbelieving that the Yondaime himself, the one who had put Kurama within him, was his father. Uproar shouted from the rest of the Squad.

"Wait, THE YONDAIME'S YOUR FATHER!?" Kiba shouted first in absolute disbelief. He had suspected ties, but to actually hear them confirmed was another thing, "Wow man, that's awesome." He continued, watching as Naruto and the rest smirked towards him. "Can we not count this due to insane news?" Kiba asked, to which they shrugged in agreement.

"I mean it was pretty insane, least we know who your father is now Naruto." Shikamaru said, smiling towards Naruto.

"Hn." Sasuke grunted simply, agreeing with Shikamaru. Naruto mentally groaned when Kurama cackled.

_**"I see you gotta learn the famous Uchiha speak now!" **_Kurama cackled within his mind, _**"But now we know one of your parents, I can tell you a bit about him. He was the one that managed to break me out of that powerful Genjutsu placed upon me, and gated up my hatred for you to slowly let out and conform around me. He was a good man Minato, worthy of a name remembering." **_Kurama smiled in memory, noting a now yellow light hovering slightly outside Naruto's vision, watching over him with yet another presence.

_"First thing I'm doing is smacking him with a dictionary before he regresses into that, JUST YOU WAIT KURAMA!_" Naruto yelled back mentally, not at all pleased with that situation, but still listening readily to the information Kurama had about his father, the fourth Hokage no less. Naruto could hardly even wrap his mind around that truth, but no matter how much he looked towards Hiruzen, he merely kept that smirking smile of his.

"Are you going to finish reading it?" Shino asked, snapping Naruto out of his rambling thoughts, before explaining himself, "Why? Because I'm sure we're all curious on what your father wished to say to you." The Fox Squad nodded their approval with the statement as Naruto wiped his tears and continued reading it.

"Now that you're over the massive shock of hearing that the great and hono- okay I'll stop the bragging there, but you might be wondering why I'm writing to you about this. Well, it's because I've left a gift for you within this scroll. You might have found your strength within Fuinjutsu, and I would be insanely proud of you if you did. Well, I left a small seal within this scroll for you, that contains a map. Where does it go? Well when you're a Genin, I'm sure Hiruzen will let you place your own mission out to find out." Naruto said in absolute awe, placing the scroll down and bringing out the small seal from the middle, opening the seal revealed a pristine, as if drawn mere moments prior, map. Naruto looked at Hiruzen in nearly bursting excitement. Hiruzen rolled his eyes and motioned him to continue reading, "But that's not all I have to say here. My actual body, since this is only a Shadow clone writing this while the real body deals with the Nine Tails, wishes me to include one thing. Know that we will always love you, your mom, me, and my actual self, will always love you dearly. I wish that I could tell you this in person, face to face, without ever needing this note, but I'm afraid it's probably not to be. I wish you the best, Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze. I grant your Namikaze, and your mother, who the Nine Tails will know as Kushina Uzumaki, grants your Uzumaki. I hope you find your Ninja way, and may this help you on your travels." Naruto finished before his eyes immediately went white, which Hiruzen knew meant he was talking to Kurama.

_"My mom?" _Naruto thought slightly impatiently, not mad by any means, but wanting some answers. Kurama shrugged.

_**"Sorry Kit, my memories had a seal until their names were read." **_Kurama hastily apologized before Naruto went after him with questions that he couldn't answer. _**"What little I do remember was that Kushina was a lot like you, overactive, had really big dreams, and was absolutely trash at written exams." **_Kurama explained, snickering a lot at the last one.

_"Not my fault that written exams are boring!" _Naruto countered, which made Kurama start cackling once more.

_**"What do you think she said!" **_Kurama laughed at the fact that Kushina had said the same thing when she had been a kid herself. _**"But now that I think about it, you seem to be taking a bit more from your father lately. You're not constantly screaming your goals to the world and the like. You been listening to people and the like. You're a weird mix of your parents...I kinda like this more than when we first met if I had to be honest." **_Kurama said, surprised from his own words. Naruto merely shrugged.

_"I know that I want to be Hokage. I want everyone to be friends, to be able to share this world with them without the constant violence and the like. Honoke-tousan taught me that screaming my words drives people away, and can make that dream harder to accomplish. I kinda like it too if I had to be honest, since I can understand people better, even if I don't necessarily agree all the time. Sasuke wants to bring Itachi back and bring Danzo to justice for what happened when he was a kid, but knows that none of us have the power for that right now to stop him when no one can find him. While Sakura wants to eventually tell Sasuke how she feels and help him on his quest to bring Itachi home, but doesn't have the strength to stand beside him. Shino wants to eventually bring people to understand his bugs, and have people notice his existence and the like, even with his beetles constantly eating his Chakra and by extension, his presence. Shikamaru just wants to be able to rest, but secretly wants to make sure all his friends and people he calls family are safe and sound. Choji wants to see his father again, as well as eventually open his own Yakaniku restaurant, or be able to own Yakiniku Q. We all have our hopes and dreams, even you Kurama. You wish to eventually be free from here and treated like everyone else, to be able to walk besides us as brothers, instead of trapped in me or anyone else, since you don't want anyone to get hurt by your fault. You know?" _Naruto smiled with a knowledge beyond him, yellow and red hovered around him like a illusion as images of those mentioned walked by, until they all stood in front of Kurama.

_**"I..." **_Kurama was at a lost of words from how well Naruto read him, but even with that, Naruto's grin didn't fade. The dark sewer started brightening until even Kurama had to block his eyes, revealing a lush forest in its place, with a bright midday sun in the darkness's place, as well as the seal retreating to Kurama's stomach instead of being on a sealed gate.

_"It's fine Kurama, we're friends, right? You know my dreams, and I know yours!" _Naruto chuckled happily while Kurama checked his new surroundings, the yellow and red presence fading.

_**"Thank you Kit...thank you." **_Kurama thanked with a smile, an honest one devoid of mischief and full of gratitude.

_"No problem!" _Naruto gave Kurama a thumbs up before fading back out with a grin still on his face, eyes shining a brilliant purple for mere seconds before fading once more to that sapphire crimson of his, much to Hiruzen's surprise. After the moment of surprise, he merely smiled.

"I don't think either one of them are the traitor. Kurama personally suspects Mizuki, but he's always been nice to me and encouraging me throughout the school years." Naruto told Hiruzen, after putting the scroll away. Hiruzen nodded as he got the rest of the scores.

Not one of the students suspected Iruka, with Shikamaru in the end saying, "If he's indeed the traitor, I must admit that he played us like a fiddle." Hiruzen sighed, looking at the picture of Mizuki.

"Naruto, I have a plan, but you are probably going to disagree. Let me explain before you yell at me, understood?" Hiruzen asked in his Hokage voice. Naruto nodded. "I want you to do everything you can to bring out the traitor of the Academy, even if it involves failing the Academy exam." Hiruzen said simply. As predicted, Naruto's eye twitched.

"I won't fail you." Naruto gritted his teeth as he said, not at all showing his disdain for the order. Hiruzen, as well as the rest of the Squad, were proud of his self control, "But I will do everything I can to protect my friends and make sure we all pass." Naruto continued, hints of that purple appearing once more.

"Understood. Dismissed." Hiruzen said, proud as he watched them all vanish out the window. That pride fell as he noticed a gift Naruto left. It was a scroll, but Hiruzen didn't even bother reading it. He called in Mizuki and asked him to open the scroll.

Neither of them could escape the stink that the stink bomb caused as the letter read _"Doesn't mean you get to get away with that!" -Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze!_

Hiruzen cried as he remembered that he failed to take Naruto out for ramen the day before just a tad too late.

* * *

The next two days went by without much issue, even as the Fox Squad took note to try everything in their power to bait out the Academy Traitor. Naruto, on the other hand, just simply behaved as himself, Sakura having told him that he would still be the key in the end. Bored out of his mind, Naruto watched as Iruka continued his review.

"Remember that after this, you will no longer be my students, instead, you will be Genin, assigned to missions for the good of the village. Now, what's the main purpose of a Ninja?" Iruka-sensei asked them, and to most of their surprise, Naruto's hand shot up just as fast as Sakura's did. Much to even Naruto's surprise and Sakura's slight annoyance, Iruka called on Naruto. Naruto smiled as he stood up, happy to be called on with the answer, and put his thumb on his chest.

"A Ninja can be one of two things. The Ninja himself is meant to be a tool for a nation, to strike without hesitation and follow the mission details to the finest drop of ink, however, it can also be a Human, someone that knows when the mission details will only hurt more than help and be able to tell when it's best to go off the details of the mission in order to keep their comrades, nation, and families alive and well. To be a proper Ninja, you must be able to balance both Good and Evil from atop of your blade, and balance life and death from atop your skills." Naruto said with a grin on his face.

Silence spread throughout the classroom as almost everyone (Sasuke refused to admit that he also stared in shock, while Shino was ignored and honestly knew Naruto would have the answer Iruka was looking for. Why? Because Naruto really wanted to be a Ninja with all his heart and paid attention. Knowing this, Iruka was the third and final person that was not in shock) fell into deep shock, staring at Naruto as if he was claiming it was high noon.

Snickering, Kurama broke the silence mentally, _**"I can guess what you're going as for Halloween huh?" **_Kurama snickered out.

Naruto, amused and wanting to ignore the shocked stares, merely raised an eyebrow, _"Oh yeah? What then?" _Naruto asked.

_**"Cyborg Ninja." **_Kurama cackled alongside Naruto.

"Well, as Naruto explained, which he hit right on the nail if I had to be honest, a Ninja is being able to know when it's best to follow the mission's instructions, or to stray away from the mission in order to do what your heart thinks is right. A good Shinobi is able to know which to use in what situation, and knows when following one's heart would only lay in death. Never forget your heart, how you feel now. Fight not just for yourself, not just for strength, fight for those you love, and for others to feel that love. You can't prevent every death, but you can always make sure those deaths will never be left in vain. With that all said, I wish you the best of luck on the exams tomorrow. It's time for your last Taijustu class of the Academy if all goes well. Make the best use of it, and I'll see you tomorrow to give you your final exam." Iruka-sensei smiled lovingly, hopeful of everyone passing as the students left. The Fox Squad, unsurprisingly, surrounded Naruto.

"Where did you pull that from!?" Kiba immediately asked, absolutely shocked and honestly impressed by his friend. Naruto nervously laughed with a shaky grin upon his face.

"W-Well..." Naruto said as Hinata rolled her eyes with a playful smirk on her face.

"We were reading some novels recently. He got the I-" Naruto immediately closed her mouth with a hug to make her pass out from the blush. Sakura punched him for it and left him bleeding on the ground.

_**"You deserved it." **_Kurama added dryly, not even attempting to heal the wounds caused out of spite. Naruto stuck his mental tongue out at him, past out from the pain.

"Oh, so he was reading that Shimada manga? That explains a lot honestly, seeing as the direct quote is 'I balance life and death atop my blade.'" Kiba said, realization kicking in. Sasuke and Shino sighed as they picked up Naruto and Hinata respectfully, long used to this happening. (Shino swore the sticks were rigged, he just couldn't tell why. (Years later, he would find out that he had always drew the longest of the sticks, but his beetles would eat it through it, he was not pleased by this.))

They eventually made it to the Taijutsu class, waking the two up in the process with twin Chakra pulses (Shikamaru was highly proud of it, his dad told him that any Ninja worth their salt could do it, but he was still proud.) to the forehead. Groaning, Naruto woke up face to face to Hinata. Sharing a twin blush with Hinata from the situation they had found themselves in, both rapidly broke it apart and avoided each other's gaze for quite some time.

* * *

Nothing really happened the rest of the day, they trained a bit and soon split to their homes. Shikamaru, Choji, and Naruto himself were heading back to the Nara Compound...

"Hey Dad." Shikamaru said blandly, instead trying to see who he was talking to. Naruto wasn't entirely sure, but Choji instinctively sniffed the air as if catching whiff of food. Naruto flinched back, having learned that painful lesson when he tried hiding his lunch once from his surrogate brother, as Choji rushed forward towards the two men without any hint of self preservation.

"DAD!" Choji screamed with joy as Naruto's eyes widened from shock for not the first time that day.

"Hey you two, I figured you were heading over here. My, how you two grown. You two too old for my cooking yet?" Choza grinned teasingly, secretly depressed that he missed them grow. Naruto had once stood at about four feet five inches, but now was around the five feet mark, just a few inches shorter. His once mark-less face had grown three pairs of whiskers around his 7th birthday, and now they looked to have grown slightly longer, and thicker now that Choza looked at it, since Choza had left. On top of that, the biggest difference had to have been the eyes. Before it had looked to be both souls fighting for the role of the eye, now they seemed to swirl around one another, not quite in perfect sync, but much closer to that sync. Choza shook his head, and couldn't help being proud. Choji didn't look as fat as he should have, which would be a problem with the Akimichi fighting style, but he actually looked quite happy. His belly was just in the beginning grounds of popping out in a display of robustness, while Naruto seemed to have trimmed down significantly to a well toned body. Choza's eye twitched as he noticed the clothing.

_"Oh we are taking you to Tetsu's shop tomorrow, I refuse to let you stay in THAT!" _Choza angrily thought towards the young boy as he looked at Naruto's blinding orange jumpsuit, which, while holding the Uzumaki's clan symbol on its back, still looked absolutely painful to the eyes. He wasn't even sure that he had brought Naruto to Testumari's shop, and secretly was excited to bring them both to get them stocked up on official Shinobi gear.

"So...are we going to have to walk all the way back to the Akimichi compound?" Naruto whined slightly, having noticed it already being dark, and him already having finished his sparing practice with Neji, who had taken over training him after Naruto entered the Academy proper, much to his annoyance and Neji's respectfully. Neji was much more brutal with his punches than Hiashi, but also much easier to read as a result. It took a few months, but Naruto have been able to land a clean punch across Neji's cheek before following it up with a kick. Neji was especially brutal every day after that, even managing to put him in the hospital at one point, thankfully Kurama was there to help patch him up. It took all Naruto's strength to even match his strength and go toe to toe with him, and exhausted him greatly.

Choza looked upon the pleading children he called his own, and shrugged. The two, thanking him profusely, quickly ran past him to head to bed. "Cute little rascals huh?" Choza smiled towards his teammate, who shook his head with a smile of his own.

"To think they might be Genin starting tomorrow..." Shikaku said in response, before the two settled for the night themselves.

_It's good being_ back... Choza thought peacefully to himself before falling asleep.

* * *

As if seeing the end of a long long series of events back to back, the sun rose once more upon our Squad of the Fox. It wasn't that much to the group, but Naruto and Choji woke with grins upon their face. As if summoned, Choza appeared and placed bowls of the food in front of the five people there. Shikaku wore a blank stare, secretly screaming in agony of the fact that Choza had taken it upon himself to raid their kitchen. Shikamaru held a similar stare, but was impressed of the showing and hoped it was better than his father's mediocre cooking. Shikamaru's mother was away on a mission and sadly missed the affair, but Naruto and Choji looked like they were tempted to jump and eat the bowls whole.

Shikamaru feared Choji might actually do that with the glint within his eyes.

The five ate, with Choji wolfing everything down as if he was Naruto at Ichiraku Ramen. In the end, he competed with his father over who ate more (It was a tie shockingly enough, but Shikamaru felt that Choza took it easy and could have easily ate more. The wink simply proved it.) while Naruto only ate a single bowl. After seeing the slight widening of Naruto's stomach, Shikamaru realized too late that he had eaten three bowls of it, and looked at his slightly plump stomach with a glare while Shikaku casually gave his son signs to a jutsu. After his stomach was back to normal, he ate more out of hunger that he never knew was there. Naruto simply rolled his eyes. Soon enough the breakfast was over and finished.

Choza pulled the three off to the side with the permission of Shikaku, who simply went back to sleep. "Now, in celebration of your graduation exam being today, I want to get you guys a gift!" Choza said with a grin on his face.

"Really!?" Naruto and Choji spoke in union, both surprise and excited for what the gift could be. Shikamaru rolled his eyes with a look of hesitant curiosity.

"Yup! We're going to be heading to a shop exclusively for up and coming ninja to get you all some new ninja attire as well as a weapon to practice kenjutsu with. It'll take a bit for it to come in, but it'll help you with battles." Choza nodded with a grin that instantly reminded Naruto of Guy, who he had only briefly met when training with Kakashi once. Naruto paled considerably.

_"Oh dear Kami, is he turning into Guy-sensei?" _Naruto thought to his equally terrified friend.

**_"WE DON'T NEED A THIRD ONE, NARUTO STOP THIS SOMEHOW PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF ALL IN THIS WORLD!" _**Kurama begged miserably for reasons that escaped Naruto. Kurama shuddered at the memory of the sunset genjutsu he and his little clone had put on, thankfully having sheltered Naruto in time to be spared of that terrifying sight.

Choza struggled to keep the smile upon his face, mentally exhausted. He knew better than to get advice from Guy, and if his knowledge was right, the trembling look upon their faces were NOT what you were supposed to do as a parent. He groaned as he finally dropped the smile. "I'm sorry guys, I...I'm just out of practice with the parenting thing." Choza admitted, hand scratching his head nervously.

"It's fine Dad." Choji grinned, hugging his father lovingly.

"Yeah, Kurama said to, and I quote directly from him, 'NEVER DO THAT AGAIN PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF KAMI WE ALREADY HAVE TWO OF THEM! WE DON'T NEED A THIRD!' No idea why he was so terrified, I was more afraid that you were taking lessons from Guy-sensei or something and we lost the Choza-ojisan we know and love." Naruto shrugged, yelling out the words Kurama had desperately screamed in his head.

Nervously laughing from the crimson gleam in Naruto's eyes, Choza wisely led them to the shop in silence. It didn't take too long, and was ironically right behind Ichiraku Ramen all along. (Choza had to drag Naruto away when he started subconsciously walking towards it with droll going down his face. He then had to drag Choji along for much of the same reason, Shikamaru had to drag all three away when Choza also started gravitating towards the restaurant with a grimace upon his face. If he hadn't known Naruto, he would have claimed him to actually be Choza's kid with their attitudes.) Naruto looked awe-struck as he looked at the Konoha symbol upon the oddly laid-back looking shop building.

"I present to you, Hashirama's Shinobi Supplies!" Choza said, pride evident in his tone as the four heard shouts coming from inside the building. The mood gone, each one shared stares of evident confusion before heading towards the door. Naruto went for opening the door before being violently squished against the wall of said building as the door slammed open.

"I TOLD YOU THEY WERE CUSTOMERS, DAD!" A girl's voice yelled at her father, but Naruto was still seeing a door frame that decided to clone itself and spin around.

The door opened as Naruto collapsed to the ground, groaning from the pain. Kurama snickered as Choza picked the kid up with a nervous laugh. "Hello, Tenten. I was just bringing these three to the store to get them some actual shinobi attire for the Graduation exam today. I also wanted to help them pick up a training weapon for kenjutsu today, but I don't want that to come in until at least tomorrow if that's alright with you both." Choza smiled and explained when Tenten beckoned the group inside, a grin that spoke of experience and a love of weapons upon her face.

The inside of the shop was decorated with weapons along the wall, clothes of all sorts of sizes and genders within the main hall, as well as a sign pointing a training field, and a set of three changing rooms in the back right nearby said training field. It ranged of all sorts of weapons, from bo staffs, swords, spears, and one that Choji's eyes glinted as he looked at. Choza blanked, noting the weapon his wife loved using was directly in Choji's line of sight.

"YES PLEASE!" Choji grinned as he lifted the kunai-filled whip. It looked impractical, it was almost completely impractical. But Choji had saw the devastation a whip like it caused in combination of the Akimichi body expansion jutsu, having been used to deliver a punch through a man's special spot that left kunai coming out of his eyes. Choza calmly grabbed the whip out of his son's trembling hands with an expression that was so pale he would make Hiashi look flush by comparison. Shikamaru looked around with less decisiveness as he picked up weapons and gave some mock hits to an invisible opponent. His mouth frowned from multiple of them, not really liking the fighting style of most of them. He grabbed what amounted to a small dagger, a curved Tanto, and swung it a few times. His mouth twitched out a smile as he thought of how he could use its dark design to send his shadow alongside, as well as possibly find a technique to use his shadow to swing the small blade. He looked towards Choza as he calmly put the blade in its sheath.

"So we have one looking for a training Tanto, one looking for...what the heck is that?" A man walked by, blinking as he looked at the abomination of a whip that Choza had put back. Choza nervously laughed.

"That's what my wife would call a 'Basuta do Katta' if my terminology is correct." Choza said, purposely using a somewhat butchered form of the word, hoping that Iruka hadn't taught them the Japanese encryption language. _**(Head Canon time! I think that based on how the Naruto world operates, it's some combination of English and Japanese. So it would make sense that those two base languages would be basic encryptions to teach young children while being able to learn other forms of encryption to put on top of them and other languages!) **_He sighed in relief as he saw the look of confusion upon their faces. He did notice Tetsumari flinch from the name though, sharing a look of sympathy with Choza during so.

"Hmm, well Akimichi's mostly use their body expansion jutsu, so you can make use of multiple small weapons in unison. I would suggest learning how to use Ninja wire instead of trying to go for kenjutsu overall if I had to be honest." The man Choza had called Tetsumari said. Unlike Tenten, who was a deep tanned white for the most part, Tetsumari had a light shade of dark skin upon him, a scar covering his left eye that went all the way to his finger, but even with that, he was still able to see with a discolored brown eye in place of what was once a dark blue. Grinning as he noticed Choji looking over him, Tetsu made no move to hide the vast amount of muscle he held. It was clear that Tetsumari had once been an active ninja himself, if the scars that lined his muscled body were anything to go by, but Choji could only stare in awe.

Naruto groaned lightly into Choza's shoulder, which led the man to putting the young orange-clad boy to the ground. Sharing a sympathetic smirk towards Tetsu, who he noticed flinched back at the absolutely hideous outfit Naruto had taken to wearing.

"And what is **THAT!?**" Tetsu spat out with the venom of a thousand snakes coursing through his words (He blamed Anko, who had made it a game at this point.) as he pointed to Naruto's jumpsuit. Naruto only blinked sleepily.

"Oh boy, do you want me to leave or are you waiting for the ninja to try and kill me?" Naruto yawned as he said the words casually. Choza flinched quite noticeably, noticing Choji do the same. It was easy for the two to forget how cruel the village had been to Naruto while living with him.

"And why would I do that?" Tetsumari asked stiffly, torn between being offended and wanting to hug the poor brat before him. He had noticed the constant banging of an anvil hammer on semi-molten steel stopping when Naruto had said his words so he knew he had to act fast before Tenten came in and hug Naruto herself.

"Because of that whole fox demon thing in me that everything thinks is me, even though he's a good friend and can't even remember what happened, but they're so stupid and dumb and can't understand the difference." Naruto rambled childishly, not bothering to sugarcoat his words from trying to get rid of the headache he had from the door. Tetsu's hand twitched as he fought the urge to hug the boy.

Choza didn't give him a choice and brought his hand around the boy lovingly. Naruto was confused at the motion, "Aren't shopkeepers supposed to just kick me out or charge me way higher than market price for stuff?" Naruto asked ignorantly, not even noticing the tears Tetsumari was shedding.

"You won't have to deal with that here, he-I'll even offer half price on anything you buy unless circumstances prevent it. All you have to do is promise to make this the only store you visit for your needs." Tetsumari said firmly, causing Naruto to tilt his head.

"What about food?" Naruto asked without a second thought, which led to a glare sent in Choza's direction who only nervously laughed once more. _Oh, I've been with Jiraya too long, why does he always do this!? _Choza thought miserably, noting his recent behavior as of late. It would take time to rid himself of the Sannin's influence, thank Kami he managed to dodge the Sannin's perverted tensions. Withholding a shudder, Choza continued his mental dialogue. _At least the plan worked. Just...not entirely as intended...yesh I keep forgetting about his past because of how bright and lively he is. If anyone else was in that kind of situation, who knows what madness they would spiral down into..._ Choza's smile gradually fell as his thoughts took a depressing turn, imagining an Naruto that fell into depression and later...Choza stopped his thoughts, not able to hide the tear that dropped from the thought of Naruto doing such an act. Tetsu raised an eyebrow, but said nothing about it, while the children barring Shikamaru looked ignorant. Shikamaru looked as if he was going to ask later, which Choza could do nothing more about.

"Even food." Tetsumari promised, hoping that the Shinobi food supplies would be enough to encourage a healthy eating Naruto. Choza had started it most likely, so it was up to Tetsu to keep it up. "But first, we are getting you out of _that._ No ifs or buts, arms up." Tetsu firmly said with a hated glare to the jumpsuit.

"What's wrong with it?" Naruto whined, having grown to like the jumpsuit with its orange color scheme. Even though Choza had tried to get him out of it multiple times, Choza never bothered to look in the hidden drawer underneath Naruto's underwear drawer, but Naruto still wondered why all the magazines that looked suspiciously like his Sexy Henge Jutsu were down there. He past it off as Choza being a closet pervert, but had no idea that the room once belonged to Choza's brother Koza who was killed during the attack with an mind-controlled Kurama, who was a massive pervert during life. Tetsu's eye twitched.

"Oh, where do I begin? The bright orange makes you a giant target on the battlefield, it's ripped and torn over the place, and it reeks like someone dunked you in the sewers and you never washed it since! If you wore that on the battlefield, you would either have the enemy running from the smell alone or you would be dead in a matter of seconds!" Tetsumari explained, noting how Choji and Choza had nose plugs in to dilute the smell. Naruto pouted as Tetsu ripped the jumpsuit off of him and threw it and used a Katon jutsu on it to burn it to ash. Naruto couldn't hide his anime tears at the action. Tetsu rolled his eyes as he tossed a set of Ninja clothes at him.

Naruto looked at the outfit with slight confusion before Choza lightly tossed him into the changing room. Heaving a heavy sigh of sadness, Naruto slowly put the new outfit on, noting how Tetsu began burning his old pants and even underwear as well. Kurama wisely said nothing as Naruto cried out in sorrow before he finished putting the new outfit on.

Instead of his normal yellow-clad outfit, Naruto was now in a somewhat similar look. Underneath his shirt laid a black mesh net shirt meant to last against heavy taijutsu. Over it was a dark orange, nearing black with its tone, shirt with easily roll-able sleeves in order to hide Fuinjutsu seals, as well as be able to adjust to whatever weather is thrown his way. The pants were about the same, black in tone with dark orange highlights. A smile overtook Naruto's face as he found the last part of his outfit, a jacket with the Uzumaki clan symbol on the back, and the Namikaze clan symbol interlaced with the right shoulder's Uzumaki symbol. At least, Naruto thought it was? He had never really seen the clan symbol of Namikaze but figured the three kunai-like symbols surrounding the Uzumaki symbol was it. The jacket had room on both sides for hiding kunai and shuriken, with the pants having many latches to place tools. His smile turned into a grin as Naruto put back on his googles, noting how they were now sprayed a light black around the rims, with details of yellow shining through. Naruto finally walked out of the changing room, getting a thumbs up of approval from the three.

"I'll give that for free, how many sets?" Tetsu told Choza, who said get him eight sets in total, including the ones he had on. Naruto tilted his head out of confusion.

"You always want one more than the days of the week, just in case something happens to one of the pairs on the way." Choza explained while giving Tetsu a good deal of money for the seven sets he paid for. Naruto's jaw dropped as Choza shrugged, "High quality, high price. Still worth it though. Let's get to stocking your gear before heading out." Choza said, noting how Choji already changed to his new ninja set, which was basically his canon set (First series), but with slightly darker of a color scheme to it.

It took a few hours as Naruto and Choji had multiple pockets full of kunai, shuriken, as well as medical tools used to heal bruises and the like. Choza stressed the importance on being over-prepared rather than under-prepared. Naruto and Choji shrugged about that, but still kept all the tools on hand. Then, it was time to pick a kenjutsu weapon for Naruto. Choji was okay with going for ninja wire, since Shikamaru could help him out with it, while Shikamaru worked with the Tanto. Naruto looked around with a slight frown on his face.

"I don't really know what I want to go for." Naruto said as Shikamaru rolled his eyes.

"Think of your fighting style. You use a stealth based style that can be used for an all out assault when the time comes for it. It's lethal, but uses a lot of hit and run tactics. You have a Wind nature with a slight Fire nature as well. It's pretty obvious what you should go for." Shikamaru listed, leading Naruto in front of a certain weapon type.

Naruto grinned.

* * *

Naruto, Shikamaru, and Choji narrowly made it into class as the bell rang with their wooden practice weapons stored inside scrolls on their person. Naruto grinned as they saw the stares thrown their way. Shikamaru's outfit hadn't changed, since he said that his father would want to pick his clothes out after he graduated, but everyone stared at Choji and Naruto in surprise. Their outfits both made them blend in and stand out so heavily. Where once a bright orange ninja stood a now slightly mature dark-orange ninja. Both gave the same ready grin however.

"y-Y-Y-y-y-y-You look g-great Naruto-kun!" Hinata stuttered fiercely, blush on her face. _Naruto-kun cleans up so nicely! I'm happy for him, and I know he'll graduate with us! _She thought happily.

"Good luck Naruto, Choji. Why? I believe you only narrowly beat Iruka-sensei into the class." Shino said calmly, but still nodded in acceptance to the new outfits the two wore.

Similar thoughts and comments spread across the class as Naruto nervously chuckled out of embarrassment before taking his seat.

Twin thoughts spread across the Fox Squad. _How do we lure the traitor out?_ They thought in individual ways, staring at the door intently before Iruka walked in.

"Well Cla-" Iruka-sensei started before his eyes noticed Naruto's new outfit, "Wow Naruto, I'm impressed by the new look, really looking like a ninja!" Iruka-sensei grinned in appreciation, even giving a thumbs up to him. Naruto had to hide his head this time to prevent people from seeing the blush across his face, thankfully his new jacket had a collar, which Naruto pulled up to cover his face. Coughing, Iruka-sensei began once again, "Well class, it's been a long five years with you, but today is it. You eighteen people will each have a chance to become Genin, or if that's not the career you wish to be in, you will be able to train for other jobs as well. You all know there are multiple paths to helping this village, so don't be afraid to carve your own place in the will of fire, with all that said. From today on, I am no longer your sensei. Pass or fail, I wish you all the best." Iruka-sensei...no, Iruka, told the class with a smile on his face before passing the tests out. "You may begin!" He said after the tests were out.

Naruto's eye twitched as he looked over the questions, hoping to make it through alright. He refused to cheat, but he wasn't sure on some of the answers. He answered to the best of his ability on the other hand, and hoped it was just enough to pass. He sighed at the end of the test, knowing he would never really be good at written tests.

"Now, when I call your name, come get your test. I'll be splitting you all in four different categories based on your score for the next test, so listen closely." Iruka told them, as eventually Naruto grabbed his paper, he sighed in relief.

_**"Talk about cutting it close huh?"**_ Kurama snickered as he saw the big 71 that populated the top right of the paper. Naruto was put into group Three, noting how it was set up from 100-89, 88-79, 78-69, and then everyone else. He heard Iruka telling the fourth group, those that didn't quite hit a score of 69, that four of the six students there would fail depending on how they performed in this section. Wincing slightly at the cruelty, Kurama snorted.

_**"It's not at all cruel Naruto. The worst thing for a Shinobi is someone that only pulls the team down. If someone gets kidnapped and the like, the whole mission or team could end up dead. If Iruka was cruel, he would pass everyone without even testing their skills." **_Kurama explained, surprising Naruto with the fact that he used Iruka's name. It seems even he had a sign of respect towards the man. Naruto kept quiet on his thoughts and said nothing more with Kurama not pushing the issue further.

The fighting eventually lead to Naruto taking the top of his group, Kiba taking the highest from the fourth group and being one of the only two that passed, the other being Shikamaru, who had simply fell asleep instead of filling out the test, much to Iruka's annoyance. The second group was still on going and had yet to be decided. Sasuke and Sakura fought for first in the first group, and while not an absolute joke of a match, Sakura was much weaker than Sasuke was, and had lost the fight overall. Naruto gave her a smile which she hesitantly returned.

Sharing a glint with Sasuke, the two swore to fight each other in the finals without a single uttered word, just twin smirks to each other. The second group was now Hinata vs Ino.

"GO HINATA!" Naruto yelled with a grin upon his face, before noticing that his shout actually distracted Hinata enough for Ino to get a good blow in, but instead of losing to it, Hinata simply gritted her teeth through it and punched back. The two both skidded back to which Iruka walked forward.

"Both of them lose, good job you two." Iruka smiled as Naruto grinned towards Hinata, who returned with a nod.

The match was first Sasuke vs Kiba, which ended even faster than Sasuke vs Sakura, which led Kiba growling when he saw the smirk Sakura gave him, and then...

then it was Naruto vs Sasuke.

The two smiled at each other as they made the sign to start the fight.

"HERE WE GO!" Naruto grinned as he started the fight proper with his air bullets, which seemed to hover in midair at random points while Naruto disappeared from Sasuke's sight. Several hard hitting attacks got him as Naruto attacked from out of sight. Sasuke growled as he landed a elbow strike against Naruto's chin before following it up with a nasty gut punch. Blood spilled from the force of the hit as Naruto spat it out, bringing out his new scroll. Opening up, he revealed a small katana called a wakizashi. Grinning, he revealed that it wasn't just one that he had, but two of them. The scroll disappeared as he brought out the two wooden training wakizashis, and raised them. Shikamaru groaned.

"What's wrong Shikamaru?" Sakura asked, confused.

"We just got those weapons not even an hour ago, there's no way Naruto knows how to use those things!" Shikamaru said, annoyed at his fellow comrade. Both looked back to the fight, watching Naruto sloppily swing the blades around with no care of flow or style. His taijutsu style might be based around the weapons, but without experience in the blades...Sasuke grabbed onto one of the blades, but Naruto merely grinned, using the angle to jump and land a blow to Sasuke's back with the other wakizashi, much to Sasuke's annoyance. The two jumped apart with Sasuke letting go of the wooden blade. Panting, the two looked at each other. Sasuke began making signs that made Iruka very nervous. Naruto tried, but couldn't with the wooden swords in hand. He quickly used the air bullets placed to jump away out of bounds as Sasuke released the technique he was building.

"KATON: GIANT FIREBALL!" He yelled as he jumped back out of bounds as well, releasing a giant fireball onto the field, which managed to hit the midair Naruto away into the trees. With a yell of agony, Naruto fell to the ground with some light burning, but oddly enough, his Wakizashis were completely fine. Sasuke panted as Iruka frowned slightly.

"The winner is Sasuke." Iruka said somewhat regrettably, for good reason, as he sent Naruto to the nurse's office. Even Sakura, who Sasuke figured would congratulate her, seemed somewhat disappointed.

"Good job Sasuke." Sakura said without much enthusiasm, much to Sasuke's confusion. Didn't he win?

Shikamaru noticed the confusion on his face, "Sasuke. Winning isn't everything you know. You used a technique that could have killed Naruto if he wasn't able to dodge in time. On top of that, you do know that Iruka only had you win cause you knocked Naruto out before you landed out of bounds, right?" Shikamaru explained, which caused Sasuke to flinch lightly, before running towards Naruto. "Kami, I'm surrounded by fight-loving idiots..." Shikamaru groaned much to Sakura's giggling. Rolling his eyes, they awaited the next test, the final one at that.

* * *

"Naruto!" Sasuke said with worry evident in his tone, noting how Naruto was already up and grinning as he moved around. His shirt had suffered minimal damage at that, a testament to Tetsu's quality assurance. Naruto turned to Sasuke.

"Oh hey Sasuke, good match out there!" Naruto said as if nothing happened. Sasuke shook his head.

"Are you okay? I...I could have killed you with that." Sasuke said, not wanting to hurt someone that was practically his family. He still had to help Itachi, but...he wanted to protect his friends as well. Naruto waved him off.

"It's fine, it's fine. Kurama said that even if I had gotten hit directly, it would have just been slightly annoying to heal, but fully okay in the end." Naruto said happily, "It was a good fight, and you won fair and square, you know? Either way...we have other matters, remember?" Naruto said, tone lowering from happiness for a bit into seriousness. Sasuke nodded.

"Yeah. Good to hear you're alright dobe." Sasuke said with a smirk, still confused on to who this 'Kurama' was that Naruto always talked about.

"Oh shush it teme! Just because you won one battle!" Naruto said with slight anger, but was also happy to see his friend happy.

* * *

After a little while, the students, now cut down to just fourteen from its original eighteen were back in the classroom with both Iruka and Mizuki, who had oddly been absent from the other tests, "Well, it's now time for the last exam. When we call you up, show us the Academy Three, and you'll pass." Iruka said with a smile, noticing sadly at Naruto's gulp of nervousness.

The tests went on and on, which led to another five students failing and leaving it at just a simple nine. The Fox Squad felt happy at the fact that they were the only ones that had seemed to pass, but in reality, the other students were just moved to other branches or a remedial year before they went on the force.

"Naruto Uzumaki." Iruka called the final name after Sasuke passed his as well. With a nervous smile, Iruka told him to begin. "Substitute with that chair there." Iruka said, which Naruto did quickly with a chair further back, before substituting back. Iruka snorted at the showoff nature, "Henge jutsu." Iruka said, to which Naruto grinned before Iruka covered his eyes with a panicked expression.

"Ir-uk-a...do I pass?" Naruto punctuated methodically within his Sexy Harem jutsu. Iruka told him to end it and wiped the nosebleed from his face, watching Mizuki do the same, Naruto grinned.

"Now...the Bunshin." Iruka groaned, mentally frowning from the flinch Naruto gave. Sure enough, the clone that came out looked barely alive, a bit more alive than usual, but nowhere near the quality expected of graduates. Iruka sighed. "I'm sorry Naruto, I really am, but you failed." Iruka said as Mizuki looked towards him.

"You saw how well he did the Substitute no jutsu and the Henge, right? Couldn't you pass him from that?" Mizuki asked as he looked at the depressed Naruto. Iruka sighed while shaking his head.

"Sadly I can't, the rules state the student must be able to perform all three Jutsu with perfect execution in order to pass. While Naruto has the substitute and Henge down, his Bunshin is simply pitiful and would do nothing in the heat of battle." Iruka explained as Naruto slowly walked out of the room with dejection, not even noting how Kurama growled at Mizuki's emotions as he left. The Fox Squad said nothing really, equally depressed at the situation.

Night fell as Naruto sighed, heading on a night walk in order to clear his head. Mizuki walked in front of him. "Hey Naruto, you know that we have a secondary graduation test, right?" Mizuki said somewhat casually with a smile. Naruto shook his head out of confusion. "Each year, there's at least one student that fails the test that the proctors believe should have passed, so we give them a secondary exam. The exam entails going to the Hokage's office and stealing the Scroll of Seals by the end of the night before morning comes up. Those that can do it become full Genin just like their friends!" Mizuki explained, and while Kurama warned him of it not sounding right, Naruto nodded with a grin upon his face. A chance to become a Genin? He'll take it! "Good, I hope you pass Naruto!" Mizuki said as Naruto ran in the route of the Hokage's office, missing Mizuki's smirk.

* * *

Much to popular belief, Naruto wasn't a complete moron. He listened to Kurama's advice, and Kurama was smart. He just really reallllly wanted to be a Genin. Which was why he was currently in the Hokage's office.

"Naruto, what are you doing?" Hiruzen asked with a look of intrigue as he watched Naruto look towards him.

_**"It's Mizuki." **_Kurama said while Naruto pouted. Without a second thought, Hiruzen activated the security seals.

"Explain, now." Hiruzen said with his Hokage voice.

"He basically just came by, saying I would be able to be a Genin if I steal the Scroll of Seals and bring it to him." Naruto explained tiredly with a tinge of excitement.

Hiruzen rolled his eyes, "Okay, I got a plan then. Here, take this with you." Hiruzen said, making a clone of the scroll that contained only a single Jutsu within it. Naruto looked confused as he read about the Taiju Kage Bunshin no Jutsu within it. "Use that to bait him near here, and then we'll come to arrest him when he exposes himself. I believe in you Naruto." Hiruzen said as Naruto nodded before disappearing with the scroll, wanting to learn that new technique.

* * *

It took a while for Mizuki to show, but when he did, he walked towards Naruto with a grin.

"Good job Naruto, now hand me the scroll and you'll be a Genin." Mizuki said coolly as Naruto made a show of handing it over before grinning himself and having the scroll disappear.

"Oops." Naruto snickered as Mizuki brought out a kunai.

"You little brat!" Mizuki said, dropping all pretenses to attack him. Naruto was actually somewhat disappointed at how fast he went for attacking him, but Mizuki threw the kunai through the air after him when Iruka jumped in and deflected the small kunai with his own. Mizuki seemed to laugh at the sight.

"Do you really believe Iruka here would protect you? We all know that he absolutely hates you. I mean...there's been a secret the village itself has been keeping from you for a long...long time." Mizuki grinned while Iruka's eyes widened in recognition.

"No wait! Mizuki you can't say that, it's forbidden!" Iruka said as Mizuki laughed.

"W-What is it?" Naruto asked, nervous from the tone.

"You Naruto, are the Nine Tails!" Mizuki said, leaving Naruto in silence as Mizuki laughed once more.

"I already knew that though? Kurama is a cool friend of mine and doesn't remember anything from back then." Naruto blankly answered back, waiting for his clone to bring Hinata and the others over to help out. Kurama snorted in appreciation of the sight, while both Iruka and Mizuki stared at Naruto with shock at the blank answer.

_**"Why thank you." **_Kurama said afterwards from the compliments.

"W-Well...there's one thing I'm sure you don't already know. Have you wondered...what happened to **Honoke**?" Mizuki grinned at the flinch in Naruto's eyes, knowing that he had finally made a dent in the cheerful kid.

"Wh...what?" Naruto breathed out, even Iruka had no words about it as they stared at the cackling Mizuki.

"Oh yes, Honoke! I'm sure you're both **Dying** to know what happened to that idiot!" Mizuki said as Naruto gritted his teeth, his marks flaring slightly along with the crimson glint in his eyes.

"STOP INSULTING HIM!" Naruto yelled out in anger, memories of who was practically a father to him playing through his mind, the birthday party, heading to Yakiniku Q, as well as smaller memories that wouldn't really be written in any story out there, where the two trained together, read stories together and shared ramen with each and Iruka. Naruto didn't notice how his eyes seemed to glow purple.

"Well then, I might as well tell you...you see. Honoke was helping **You** too much, and would have lead to too much trouble with our plans...so, we **killed him.**" Mizuki shrugged with a satisfied smirk as Naruto stilled from shock, which was the opening Mizuki needed as he threw a demon wind shuriken at the boy. Iruka grabbed Naruto against the tree as the tip of the shuriken showed through his chunnin jacket.

"S-Sorry Naruto. I...I wanted you to have a happy life...without the whole fear of knowing what the Nine Tails had done. I didn't know you had already knew..." Iruka said, taking deep breaths of obvious pain as blood dropped onto a paralyzed Naruto.

**"He...killed...Honoke?" **Naruto...Kurama...Iruka couldn't even tell who was speaking the deep toned words at this point, they spoke aloud with rage dripping out of them. Mizuki laughed.

"You think I would lie? You're going to die here, but don't worry, I'll bury you next to him!" Mizuki said as Naruto got up, eyes glowing a deep purple as Mizuki froze from the sudden chill that surrounded him.

**"You...killed...him." **They breathed out as if trying to comprehend the fact through their brain. **"YOU...KILLED...HIM!"** They roared as Naruto rushed towards Mizuki with glowing eyes of rage. **"SHADOW CLONE JUTSU!" **they roared, causing hundreds of Narutos to appear as they ripped into Mizuki. If it wasn't for Hiruzen and Iruka holding him back, there would have been nothing left of Mizuki from the rage that had consumed the two.

Mizuki was with his back to the tree, eyes staring at something beyond their sight, still under Hiruzen's genjutsu that kept him under a false sleep.

"Naruto..." Hiruzen was first to speak, but the words caught on his throat as he saw the pained tears from the boy in front of him.

**"Why...why did he do it?" **Naruto and Kurama asked, begged with tear-filled purple eyes.

"I...don't know." Hiruzen answered honestly as they somberly stood there. Iruka led Naruto away from Mizuki, noting how the boy seemed numb to it.

"Hey Naruto, I have a gift for you, okay?" Iruka calmly said as Naruto looked towards him blankly. Gulping from new-found nervousness, "Just close your eyes." Iruka said as Naruto closed his eyes.

Feeling Iruka take off his googles, he found a different weight taking its place. Confused, Naruto opened his eyes. Seeing Iruka's headband missing and his googles in Iruka's arm, Naruto felt his headband with a grin on his face.

"Congrats. You passed." Iruka grinned somberly, noting the irony of Mizuki's earlier claim. Naruto didn't return the grin for once.

The night fell soundlessly, but Iruka could have swore it was raining.


	7. Arc 1 Omakes

_**A/N Hello everyone! I'm back at it again and before we start the very last chapter in the first arc, the Arc 1 Omakes, I want to say something real quick (yes it's sentimental time, so if you don't wanna read it, just go on ahead and have fun reading the omakes!)**_

_**When I first started writing this fanfic story, I had all plans to kinda just leave it as a one shot, just to sell the idea to others. I didn't really feel like my somewhat minimalist writing style worked for it since I was, kinda still am, tragic at describing scenes and characters. I only really had a basic idea of where the story would go, and so much of it left unclear. And now look, we're finally finished with the first arc of it, 7 chapters in and already more than every other story of mine combined when it comes to reviews, views, whatever! I have to thank each and every one of you for sticking by this story and the like, and I just hope that my writing inspires one of you amazing lot to write up your own stories one day. Stories are meant to inspire and if I can manage to just inspire even one of you, that would mean the world to me.**_

_**From the bottom of my heart, thank you all, so, so much.**_

_**P.S. I'm still going to edit the earlier chapters later on. However, besides some minor stuff, most likely I would be leaving it untouched until I'm done with the story. On multiple stories of mine, I lost track of the story by getting too caught up with editing, so hopefully you can understand why I'm waiting till the story is over.**_

_**With all that out of the way, with one last huge THANK YOU ALL! to you, let's get started with the omakes. They'll be in order of length for the most part (meaning Sasuke's is the very last one for this since it's the most developed and by extension, lengthy...probably. As well as some of these being somewhat goofy and half-cooked ideas in a sense. Too short to appear in story, but still help build the world...I hope.) and are mostly just small snippets and the like. **_

_**Enjoy!**_

_**Edit: Oh my god I am so sorry that this is taking so long! I really am! I got distracted with life and well, the weeks ran away on me!**_

* * *

_**IMPORTANT NOTE BEFORE WE BEGIN!**_

_**These are purely Omakes! Meaning that they might not be completely developed or lack most of the omake proper. Please be aware of that going into this "chapter" as it is NOT a chapter. These omakes are meant to provide some backstory to the story, and only those that have no way to be placed in the story proper (Being Omakes 4 (It's not long, but it is the full scene proper) and 5 ironically enough) are actually full scenes. Other than that, it's just snippets of the scenes that might or might not be placed in the story proper. If that is the case, I will go through these again and give them proper length. At the moment, these are more Proof Of Concepts rather than full scenes. Please be aware of this before leaving reviews about this.**_

_**With all that said, welcome to the Omakes of Arc 1!**_

* * *

Omake Chapter

Section: Arc 1, Pre-Academy

Omake 1: Naruto, please stop wearing that jumpsuit.

Characters: Kakashi, Naruto.

Takes place: Chapter 1

Reason for not including: Too short, not really developed and didn't really add all that much to the story other than some nice moments with Honoke pre-death. Since I had him die in the first chapter due to it being a pilot, there really wasn't any room to put it, unless I was to put it later on as a flashback, which I don't really intend to do.

It had only been about a month since Honoke had entered Naruto's life, a month full of training, eating, and having fun with who was quickly becoming Naruto's father figure. There was just one tiny issue...

"Naruto, please stop wearing that jumpsuit of yours..." Kakashi sighed for what felt like the thousandth time since Naruto entered his own life. It was an eventful ride, but there was a few constants to it. Naruto's optimism, Kurama's over-protectiveness..

And that damn bright orange jumpsuit that Naruto had taken to wearing. Naruto looked flat out insulted at the insinuation, even though he heard it from almost everyone over the last few days. No matter the complaints, Naruto refused to part with it, and so...the war against it began. It all started with Kakashi's lackluster comment, but while rolling his eyes Naruto made his move.

"What's wrong with it!?" Naruto demanded with childish anger at the thought of parting with his favorite jacket. Kakashi sighed.

"You want to be a ninja-" Kakashi started as Naruto nodded.

"Yeah! I'll be the number one ninja!" Naruto exclaimed, getting a groan from a once sleeping Kurama, "And then I'll have everyone be friends with everyone!" Naruto continued with a grin.

"What about being the Hokage?" Kakashi changed the topic, confused on what happened to that dream of his. Naruto's grin seemed to grow.

"Well duh, the Hokage is the number one ninja! And even if he's not, I can always go for higher heights! Kurama was telling me of all his friends and how they're so much stronger than the Old Man is, so I'm gonna beat them all and befriend them and be the bestest ninja in the whole wide world!" Naruto loudly shouted at the now shocked Kakashi, though he hid it behind a minute eye widen and a cough before the shock faded into a neutral face.

"D-Do I even want to ask?" Kakashi struggled to hide his stutter from a giggling Naruto.

"Heh-heh! Me and Kurama are gonna be the number one ninjas, believe it! To do that, I need to get strong fast so Kurama can help train me, so that's why I'm here!" Naruto explained while rubbing his finger below his nose, still with the same grin of earlier. Kakashi rolled his eyes at the motion before having an idea pop up.

"Well, ninjas don't loudly shout their goals to the world, instead they stealthily sneak around and do their best to keep their friends alive while helping out their cause. You can't really do that with an orange jumpsuit on, now can you?" Kakashi explained to the now pouting Naruto. Kakashi tried holding back a snicker over how fast Naruto's expressions could change and managed to maintain his straight face. (A smirk still showed underneath that mask, but how could Naruto or Kurama know that?)

"Oh yeah!? I'll show you!" Naruto pointed his finger aggressively towards Kakashi, who merely shrugged.

"And how will you do that?" Kakashi asked, eye lazily looking at Naruto unimpressively.

"By making it impossible for you to take my jumpsuit off of me!" Naruto said, a mischievous grin of light crimson blue lining his eyes. Kakashi merely rose his eyebrow.

* * *

Choji didn't know how to feel when he saw Naruto hiding one of his many...many jumpsuits (Choji still didn't know how he managed to get what looked to be about 60 copies of that one jumpsuit, nor why.) underneath his bed. Raising an eyebrow in confusion, Choji knocked lightly on the door. Naruto yelped as he smacked his head on the bed frame above him.

"You okay there Naruto?" Choji asked, heading to his side as Naruto rubbed his head, turning towards him after getting from underneath the bed frame.

"Yeah, what is it Choji?" Naruto asked. Choji pointed towards the jumpsuit sticking slightly out from under the bed. Naruto nervously laughed in response. "Yeah, it's a game I'm doing, want to help out?" Naruto asked, his standard mischievous grin on his face. With a face full of slight fear, though he would never admit it, Choji nodded his head hesitatingly. "Okay, here's the plan..." Naruto began explaining.

Choji grinned by the end.

* * *

Omake 2: Honoke

Characters: Honoke

Takes Place: Before Chapter 1

Reason for not including: It's backstory for Honoke, who died in the first chapter. The reason it's light is because I haven't fully fleshed his backstory out, so I want to keep it open for later on when, and if, I decide to use Honoke again without breaking my own continuity. That and trying to write out Honoke's story is kinda worthy of it's own sub-story that I rather leave for that.

Honoke grinned as he looked towards the Academy, it was finally the day of his Genin exam! It had been a long boring year, but it was finally time for Honoke to take his exam before heading off to get a sensei of his own. Not wanting to waste any time, he ran into the building without a second thought in his brain and eyes burning bright with a flame that will never run out.

_**A/N quick Author's note here. This is probably just the start of what could be a fun side chapter here, or fleshed out story outside of this when this story is done. I haven't really decided yet, but feel free to leave your suggestions below if you wouldn't mind seeing a story about Honoke. It would be almost completely original so I would have a good amount of freedom writing it, and it would end on the day when Honoke met Naruto since that would segway into this story.**_

* * *

Omake 3: Honoke meets Iruka

Characters: Honoke, Iruka

Takes Place: Before Chapter 1, before Omake 2

Reason for not including: Same as Omake 2, it's backstory and I was planing on putting it in in full somewhere else in the story.

"Team 6, Honoke, Iruka, Isashi." The instructor, a more bulky man with weird markings upon his face smiled to the three, "Jonin-sensei will be Choza Akimichi, be sure to be back tomorrow to meet up with him." He said with a nod towards the three, who just stared at each other.

Honoke had heard of the two, sure, but never had he really talked to him. A blush overtook his face as he looked towards Isashi Miukai, one of a foreign clan that moved in after the war between Konoha and Iwa that was once native to Iwa. He never once had the courage to even look her way, embarrassed on what might happen if it happened. The other one...he couldn't help but hold a grimace at the thought of working with _him_ of all people. Iruka Umino was a loud mouth prankster, nothing else could be said about it

_**A/N stopping it here so I can have stuff to put in a full chapter. This will be probably in the 2nd arc, the Kakashi Training Arc, as a bit of backstory between Iruka and Honoke, so look forward to that :P**_

* * *

Omake 4: Hiruzen talks to Kakashi

Characters: Hiruzen/Third Hokage, Kakashi

Takes Place: Right after Naruto shows weird signs of being able to see Hashirama's battle with Madara

Reason for not including: Kinda the same as Omake 1 and 2. I had chapter 1 as a full proof of concept, and there was already so much stuff I packed into the chapter. So this kinda fell to the way side to not create a block of text that never ended. At this point, this can't be placed anywhere in the story as it wouldn't really make sense, and it's not really important in the main scheme of things.

"Come in" Hiruzen looked up carefully, masking his eyes with his Hokage hat. It was just a bright normal day in Konoha, which drove at any reasonable ninja's nerves. Normal days, while nice, always were a prelude to something terrible happening somewhere. The door opened to reveal an one-eyed ninja that Hiruzen knew well. The way Kakashi held himself too stiffly, too controlled, caused Hiruzen to sigh in annoyance. Great, something must have happened if it's gotten one of his top ninja, Hatake Kakashi of the Sharigan, nervous and or terrified. "Yes?" Hiruzen asked calmly, for while he was glad for a change of pace, he had a lot of paperwork left to do since Naruto's...prankster nature was coming out. A grimace withheld at that thought, Hiruzen turned towards Kakashi, who sighed in what appeared to be tense hesitation.

"I need to borrow Te-Yamato for a few minutes." Kakashi's words caught upon themselves as he almost said the Anbu's original name. Hiruzen merely raised an eyebrow, motioning for an explanation. For once, the only time thus far, Kakashi merely waved Hiruzen off with what amounted to the most nervous expression Hiruzen had ever seen from Kakashi yet. "If I said that I wanted to test signs for one of the most sought out Mokuton jutsus on a whim, would you believe me?" Kakashi asked, eye firmly pointed at Hiruzen.

A puff of smoke emitted from Hiruzen's pipe as he thought about the question, not once breaking eye contact with him. "Hmm..." He sounded out carefully, noting the lack of change in tension upon Kakashi's body, a sigh came out after, "If you say it's something to do with Naruto, then I wouldn't be that surprised, but I would want an explanation." Hiruzen relented with the man.

Kakashi merely nodded, and a groan came from Hiruzen in response. Hiruzen nodded towards Kakashi, before Kakashi promptly disappeared to grab his kouhai from his makeshift home.

* * *

Omake 5: Sasuke meets Sakura

Characters: Sasuke, Sakura, Naruto technically but not really

Reason for not including: No space to, would have distracted from the main plot and was all within the pilot chapter (aka first chapter) that was already one of the longest chapters, if not the longest, that I ever wrote.

_**A/N oh yes, this scene/omake. I been meaning to write this mess, but I wasn't entirely sure how to write it out. Sasuke is one of those characters that have such a mindset that is so central to his character that it's hard to truly write out. Props to the creator, cause re-watching the anime (and playing the Ultimate Ninja Storm games to avoid the massive filler...) really showed how consistent the characters were, and how each one led into the story proper. I doubt this story will ever reach that level of story telling, but I'm willing to try my best. I thought of how to get Sasuke to be slightly more friendly to them, and how to fully expand on that without losing what Sasuke was in essence. I figured, since he and Sakura officially pick up in the end, let's give them some good moments together, to truly build upon them without Sasuke and Sakura looking like a really abusive couple in the end. (Which if you think about it, it's really fucked up in canon. There's a reason I'm not a fan of Sasuke and Sakura in canon, it's basically Sasuke abusing and leaving Sakura behind with his kid while Sakura gushes over Sasuke. It's not a healthy relationship if looked from the outside in like this.) **_

_**In the end, I kinda figured this Sasuke doesn't really understand his feelings for Naruto and Sakura. He's haunted by visions of Madara's and Hashirama's battle in order to create doubt in himself over the idea of friendship and ideals, and doesn't really understand Naruto and where he comes from. Sakura on the other hand, reminds him of his mother, who had died during the Great Uchiha Massacre by his brother at the hands of Danzo during chapter 6. In this story, Itachi didn't hide that fact from him, as Sasuke had proven himself stronger due to the training from Honoke, Naruto, and in some regards, Kurama. With all that in play, I figured making someone that's unsure of his strengths, of his goals, unsure of life and love and friendship and still suffering from grief over the loss of his loved ones would be the best way to write the character. It's hard to tell since the story revolves around Naruto and thus I really can't focus on Sasuke often until Team Seven forms and the like, but he's always doubting himself. I view Sasuke as Naruto's foil in a sense, while Naruto goes for Justice, Sasuke goes for Power, Naruto goes for Love and Friendship, Sasuke goes for Hate and Isolation. It's actually pretty clever in a way, but in this, I'm adding a third category. Instead of Ego being what Sasuke has over Naruto's Humbleness. I'm thinking instead to go for confidence.**_

_**Naruto is a bright cheerful lad, one that tries to see the good in everyone and drag everyone to befriend everyone for peace. Sasuke, on the other hand, is a closed off, grief-stricken boy, with no way to avenge his loss, he doubts himself and everyone else and sees what amounts to be the worst in everyone. I figure with this addition, it would truly show that while the two come from opposite sides, they can learn to accept one another, being the sun to the other's moon and vice versa. They both hold grief and suffering in their heart, but they handle it in two different ways. Naruto found peace from the help of Kurama and Honoke, but Sasuke envies him because he never had that chance. Everyone praised him for being the last Uchiha and the like(Even if they were under a Genjutsu oddly like Shisui's Mandingo Sharingan's power) and never saw to the broken boy he was. Naruto and Sakura did.**_

_**This omake is to show Sasuke's feelings towards Naruto being mostly fear of losing him, since he reminds him a lot of Shisui, and his feelings for Sakura are just being to bloom. This also sets up a shift in his attitude to become a bit more open, a bit more whole even. I apologize for the massive Author's note, but I really wanted to write this, to explain my thought process on Sasuke, Naruto, Kurama, and Sakura's relationship as Team Seven.**_

_**This takes place immediately after Sasuke runs from Naruto in Chapter 1, and as such, the last of that will be posted below in Italics for context before beginning this proper!**_

_The day ended soon after that for the most part, as Sasuke tried to split from the group, to which Naruto ran on over to his new friend, "How about I walk you home? No one should be out by themselves!" Naruto said with a grin, to which Sasuke ignored him. He tried again before Sasuke slapped his hand away, "Hey, what's the big idea!? I'm just trying to be nice!" Naruto yelled._

_"BE NICE TO SOMEONE ELSE! I DON'T WANT TO SEE YOU, DON'T YOU GET IT!?" Sasuke screamed back, he turned and ran away, unaware that Naruto had tears coming out of his eyes._

Sasuke walked off down the road with thoughts rushing through his mind. _Stupid idiot! You slapped away what could have been your only chance of getting a friend! What's wrong with you! _was but one of the many that ran through. In his inattention, he accidentally ran into a girl, around his same age.

"Oh! Sorry!" She said as Sasuke started walking away again, "Hey! Aren't you supposed to say sorry back?" The, now annoying, girl continued following.

Sasuke rolled his eyes before turning to the girl. "What?" He sharply exhaled at her, hoping to be alone.

"Oh, Sasuke! I-I d-I.." The girl, who Sasuke numbly remembered being a girl named...uhh...which one of the annoying fangirls was it again? Sakura? Yeah, Sakura. Sasuke barely even gave her pause before walking away, not in the mood for the fangirl's annoying actions. She wasn't as bad as the others, but the silent intelligence in her fangirling irked Sasuke, who couldn't help but always want her to stop it and stop wasting her own potential. Holding back an eye roll and glare, Sasuke continued walking by as she continued putting her fingers together like a certain Hyuuga he had seen around the kid he trained with. "W-Wait! Sasuke!" She cried out, probably just now noticing him walking away. Sasuke groaned out of sheer annoyance before turning back to the fangirl.

"What." He said with not a single shred of his voice devoid of anger. He was not in the mood to deal with her, as it always involved the other of the girls, and she was a million times worse and actively tried forcing Sakura into becoming yet another fangirl of his.

"I-I was wondering what you were thinking about...it's pretty late out and it could be dangerous." Sakura asked timidly as Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"It's fine. People know better than to go after clan heirs, what about you, why are you out this late?" Sasuke looked back at her, a raised eyebrow in a slightly angry twitch.

Sakura stiffened slightly, she didn't want to admit what she had saw, but figured it was something important. Gulping back nothing but air, she looked Sasuke in the eyes. "I came because I was worried about you. You're always so distant with everyone, and everyone deserves a friend, so...I had hoped to become a friend of yours." Sakura admitted with a blush beginning to line her lamp shaded face. Half of herself was desperately telling her to stop talking and run away, but there was a part that slowly encouraged her to continue, and she began to do so, "I figured that you had friends with...Naruto I think his name was? I had saw you training earlier, and you constantly had a smirk or smile upon your face, you were enjoying yourself...but then I saw what happened just now where you told him off...I don't know why, but part of me wonders why you push everyone away from you, when it's obvious you just want a friend...It makes me worry for you Sasuke..." Sakura lost her grip on her eyes midway, instead pointing them down from embarrassment, and completely missing the shock upon Sasuke's face.

_Someone other than Aniki and Mother? _Sasuke thought to himself in shock. His mind jumped back to Shisui's mischievious smirk, mirroring Naruto's quite well, jumped to the small twitch in his father's frown whenever he or Itachi did well, but not once had they been by his age. Fellow classmates were either fan girls, fawning over him like he was the best thing come curry, it made him sick. Pink Hair-Sakura, her name is Sakura don't forget it, wasn't like that from what he saw. Sure she fawned over him, but mostly because of her friend with blonde hair girl.

Sakura must have noticed the debating confusion swimming through Sasuke's eyes, for she walked carefully on over and gave him a hug, not hesitating as Sasuke stiffened completely from the odd sensation. "Don't worry Sasuke. We all have friends, with friends, there's nothing we can't do! Friends give us the power to move on where we would have failed alone! So I'll be your friend, and Naruto will too!" Sakura giggled with a smile on her face.

_"Don't worry Naruto, he'll come around, he's just not used to the idea of friends yet." Honoke tried to reassure him, knowing how painful that was. Naruto numbly nodded, wiping his tears before following along._

* * *

_**A/N Aghhhhh Time is flying away from meeeee, sorry for how dreadfully late this is, I know it's not much but what's important is this is the COMPLETE END OF ARC ONEEEEE *fireworks* so yeah, we have finally closed the first arc of this story, so some refreshers!**_

_**1\. Honoke, Naruto's landlord, became close friends with Naruto (To the point of a father figure) before being murdered by Mizuki with the help of the villagers.**_

_**2\. Naruto became friends with Kurama**_

_**3\. Kurama became super bored and thus started watching Naruto's life, starts appreciating Iruka, Hinata, and Kakashi's presence in Naruto's life, teases Naruto about Hinata mercilessly for entertainment.**_

_**4\. Naruto and Sasuke begin having weird dreams related to Hashirama and Madara's battle for some reason.**_

_**5\. Naruto indirectly teaches Tenzo the Wood Dragon Jutsu instead of Danzo.**_

_**6\. Sasuke, because of Honoke's training, is told by Itachi that Danzo is what caused the Uchiha Massacre, instead of painting himself as a villain in response. **_

_**7\. Sakura hugs some sense into our little emo boy, but doubtfully fixed Sasuke's emo personalty all the way.**_

_**8\. The Rookie 9 graduated!**_

_**9\. Kiba is the new deadlast, but in respects to Honoke, and as a favor to Kakashi, Team 7 is all together like usual!**_

_**10\. Mizuki nearly gets killed by Naruto and Kurama**_

_**11\. Naruto still learns the Shadow Clone Jutsu, and also learns of his father and mother.**_

**_Next Time on Two and the Same!_**

_**Team 7 is finally assembled! But, their challenge is not done yet, for they must prove themselves worthy of Kakashi and pass the Bell Test, will Naruto and Sakura be able to stop Sasuke's plan of revenge against Danzo? Will Kakashi be able to convince the Third about Danzo's ill intentions?**_**_ Find out on the next Chapter of Two and the Same!_**

**_Until next time!_**

**_-Char_**

**_P.S. I been streaming me speedrunning Sonic games on my twitch Swordkiller55623, check it out if you're curious!_**


	8. Team 7 Arc - The Teams Assemble!

_**A/N honestly, I have nothing to really say other than this**_

_**THANK YOU EVERYONE! This is by far the furthest I have gotten in any of my works thus far and the most well received. I thank every one of you for following, viewing, favoriting and reviewing this story and I can't wait to show you what I have in store. Now that I think about it, there's a few things I want to make clear right now before we begin.**_

**_1\. I might still go back to the first chapters in order to fix mistakes in grammar, spelling and what not, but I won't really be making massive changes to the story from now on unless something massive in the plot changes because of it (yes I will be amending some of the early chapters to fit what happens in Chapter 6, just not at this current moment or in the near future.) The reason for this is because I want to be able to focus on the newer chapters and finish the story proper, before heading back to fix the mistakes. If I start going back, we would have another Ripple in the Flames scenario where I would forget to actually continue the story, and I don't want that._**

_**2\. I have been reading books lately in order to broaden my own knowledge of the matter and to see how other authors handle wording and the like, so I'm hoping that it also gets into my writing from now on as well.**_

_**3\. On top of the previous number, I've been getting into streaming as a job in a sense over on Swordkiller55623, so between them, I haven't had much time to write at all. So don't really expect rapid updates sadly (I'm still really sorry about the wait between Chapter 6 and the Omake chapter! I really am!)**_

_**4\. I'm also working on making sure my narrative makes logical sense with itself, so I might or might not follow canon loosely. I'm still not entirely sure how I want to go with the Madara Hashirama thread I set, but I know that I want it to have a role in the big Battle at The Valley of the End that happens, if it even happens.**_

_**5\. I think I got the plot up to Chunnin somewhat set at this point, but loose enough that side stories and the like can still be explored.**_

_**With all of that out of the way and said and done, I thank every one of you for reading this far, and I hope you join me to read further on!**_

**_Let's begin!_**

* * *

**Arc 2:**

**Chapter Seven:**

**Team Seven Training Arc - The Teams Assemble!**

_"You pass." _The words still echoed through Naruto's head as he sat down absentmindedly in his seat. Yesterday seemed like a dream in his eyes, misting over the red flashes that still stained his sight. Kurama didn't try all that hard to block them, instead wanting them there to give a so-called _frame of reference_ of what might happen out there. Revenge, a word both powerful and weak, was just as much a part of a Ninja's life as it was in their death. Some part of Naruto deep down understood that, knew it, and categorized it as something that was to be expected. People were going to die, it was just a fact of life...but the rest of his mind screamed out at the thought, demanding to know why Honoke had to die, why he had killed Mizuki, and then his brain would fight it out again and again with no end in sight.

Truth be told, he was a broken mess. No longer was his mind set on becoming a ninja, impressing his new-found friends, and becoming Hokage. His mind was dedicated to reliving that memory. The blood splatter, the rush he felt at Mizuki's fall, and the worst feeling of satisfaction he had ever felt in his life. He had done all of that, he was the one that did it. He couldn't escape that fact, or hide under that fact that Kurama was there too, he had done that. He didn't even register the tap on his shoulder until he felt himself being punched in the face. Even that felt numb to him as he blankly stared at Sakura.

"NARUTO! SNAP OUT OF IT!" She yelled at him, hand still reeling a bit from the punch she had given him.

He sighed and got up again, not able to hide a grimace from the pain. _Man, Sakura hits hard!_ Naruto thought to himself, rubbing his wound lightly from the pain. "Yeah Sakura?" He asked with a slight tone of annoyance.

"You been acting like this ever since yesterday!" Sakura yelled as Naruto noticed the tears threatening to fall off her eyes. He blinked as his sight blurred, before realizing that he too were crying. "We've been so scared for you, you been acting like a zombie ever since then. Come on, where's the upbeat, over-optimistic Naruto we all know and miss dearly!?" Sakura hiccuped through her words, upbeat words thinly concealing her fear. Naruto looked around, noticing that the rest of the Fox Squad were also looking at him, each in their own form.

Sasuke looked at him through the side of his eyes, barely and just enough to see him and hide his frown. Shino could be doing anything due to his sunglasses that refused to leave his face, but his head was tilted towards him instead of Iruka. Iruka-sensei himself was looking at him with a worried frown of his own, while Hinata was but a step away from getting up and rushing towards him, if not for Ino holding her back and looking towards Sakura with hope in her eyes. Shikamaru wasn't even asleep, but instead looking towards him with a stern expression, but was unable to hold back the waver of worry lining his face, while Choji couldn't even do a thing to hide the worry in him, with his hand trembling to hold him back from do anything. Naruto realized with a jolt that Shikamaru's stern face was towards Choji to hold him back as the expressions lined into him.

**_I did tell you that you chose your friends well, did I? _**Kurama's voice rang through his head as Naruto deadpanned mentally.

_I don't think you ever did that. _Naruto replied as he felt Kurama bop him in the forehead.

"WHAT WAS THAT FOR!?" Naruto yelled out in pain, as Kurama laughed loudly in his head. "Stupid fox..." Naruto said as his eyes starting shifting colors before resting on grey. Iruka groaned as he saw it.

"Oh boy. I think Kurama is going after him now." Iruka chuckled as he looked towards the Fox Squad. Rolling his eyes at the nickname, he smiled.

"LEAVE ME ALONE YOU DUMB FOX!" _**"WHAT DID YOU SAY TO ME!?" **_"YOU HEARD ME!" The voices rang out from Naruto's mouth, but seemed to belong to two different people. Thankfully, the Fox Squad and Iruka were the only ones left since the teams were all assigned earlier.

Naruto had been like this since that morning, until Sakura finally snapped him out of it. Iruka sighed, thinking back to earlier that same morning...

* * *

_Twenty minutes before, Iruka's POV_

_Iruka figured that when he opened the door to the classroom, that the kids would be yelling and hollering out of success of passing, and expected them to be goofing off._

_Instead, all that awaited him was near silence. Sure, people were talking, but it seemed...subdued. Iruka gulped as he opened the door, doing his best to weight that thought back down in his mind._

_Naruto sat blankly in his seat, his blue sapphire eyes there and not grayed out, but he looked to be a hundred miles from there. Iruka grimaced as he noticed that Naruto had been the one to cause the tension. He couldn't do anything for him, Iruka was the last person that should be trying to comfort Naruto for he had seen multiple ninja do the exact same thing after their first kill. It destroyed them, all of them, from the inside out to the point where they either learned how to deal with it or they could never carry on the will to fight again. Some deep centered hatred rose from him at the Hokage for removing the old standards of passing. Before, everyone in the room would have known that feeling, the weight of a kill, but most of these kids were still ignorant of it all. He had no idea what to say, but he had a feeling he had to, even if Naruto could not hear him._

_"Everyone, as you can tell, last night was very eventful for some of the students here. Your past teacher, Mizuki-san, had turned into a traitor and tried to murder Naruto, your classmate, and failed. In the life of ninjas, you will be forced to do things you might not agree with, that might be against your morals. Throughout your life in the Academy, you seen things like this, as all the females in the class of Sasuke Uchiha were under a mass Genjutsu that nearly destroyed the very foundation of our society. I want to make sure that you all know what being a Ninja truly entails. Your life will no longer be your own, you will be a tool for the village, to use in order to protect the others, to carry the Will of Fire in you. It is not a job for the weak-willed, and I know each of you have already went through your tests, your whole life was groomed for this. But none of that ever prepares someone for their first kill, not just a kill against an animal, but on another human being. Naruto used his strength last night in order to save his friends, but in the process...he killed Mizuki-san. That is why he is like this. So I ask all of you in this room right now...what will you do if faced with the decision to either kill another human, or save your comrade. When faced with an impossible decision, a true Ninja must find his Ninja way, what will you do. If you don't wish to ever have to answer that question, if you never want to be forced into an impossible decision between a friend's life and the mission, if you never want to face any of that...then the door is right there." Iruka waved his hand towards the door. _

_The students were floored as eyes darted towards Naruto's direction, but Naruto didn't even flinch, no emotion past through his empty eyes, and Iruka hated that more then the gray of neither one controlling the body. Unlike before, Iruka couldn't even see the crimson tilt that usually decorated Naruto's eyes, instead the eyes seemed...empty. The classroom was silent, until a chair skid back._

_The boy sitting there, having glasses and hiding his face behind his hair silently got up and left without a word. The tears that rang from him were enough of an admision to guilt. One by one, former graduates got up and left, until the class were nearly completely empty. All that were left, were the Fox Squad Nine, the nine rookies that made it through. Even with that, Iruka's pride was dwarfed by the weight of the heavy guilt in him. __With but one sentence running through his mind._

_'This...was all my fault.'_

* * *

A small smile took his face, bittersweet in its appearance as Iruka watched over his last remaining students of the year.

"Well you guys, you passed and are all going to be assigned to a Jonin tasked with watching you all." Iruka told them, but none of them really had a smile on their face.

Well...besides one...

"ALRIGHT! LET'S DO THIS!" Naruto yelled with a bright grin on his face, even though Iruka could still see the turmoil behind his eyes (mostly because the Crimson red kept rushing around unlike normally) and rolled his eyes.

"Shut up you!" Sakura pounded her fist once more into Naruto's skull, leaving a nasty bruise.

"WHAT WAS THAT FOR!?" Naruto yelled back, leaving an exasperated smile on everyone's faces.

"So...who's getting assigned with who?" Shikamaru cut through the ensuing argument of Naruto and Sakura, with Sasuke pointedly ignoring them as they asked him who was right. Struggling to contain his enjoyment from the scene, Iruka answered Shikamaru.

"Well, for Team 6, we have Kiba, Hinata, and Shino. For Team 7 we have Sakura, Naruto, and Sasuke, and for Team 11 we have Shikamaru, Ino, and Choji." Iruka announced to a bit of mixed opinions.

"Oh man, I can't be with Hinata!?" Naruto groaned, causing a furious blush to reach Hinata's face.

"Hmph." Sasuke shrugged, not really caring.

"Ugh...I have to be with this idiot..." Sakura and Ino shared their reaction, to Naruto and Choji respectfully.

"Hey what was that!?" Naruto and Choji unioned.

Both Sasuke and Shikamaru shared a look of annoyance at their teammates as Kiba's loud voice cut through the ensuing duality that unfolded before them.

"HEY!" Kiba shouted, "Let's not get into a stupid argument about which team is better, we all know we're the best!" Kiba grinned as the two teams turned towards him.

"Oh yeah!?" Sakura and Ino shared a sinister grin as Iruka pointedly ignored everything else that happened.

"For Team 6, your instructor shall be...Mitarashi Anko." Iruka announced with a violent shiver that ran down his spine.

"T-That Anko!?" Kiba whined in fear.

"Yup! That Anko!" A voice suddenly sounded from behind him, sending him screaming out of the room. "Aww, he's scared of me~ I better go and justify that... Cmon you mutt!" The so-called Anko, a very...attractive lady dressed in very revealing fishnet clothes and donned with a light green jacket had suddenly appeared in the room, sending Iruka into a violent shiver. "Aw... Iruka, did you..._miss me?_" Anko whispered seductively into his ear, leaving Iruka whimpering something about Not again and not here.

Naruto was confused, but Sakura, Ino, and Hinata blushed violently from Anko's actions, only leaving Choji and Naruto staring at each other in confusion.

"You'll understand when you're older." Shikamaru said emotionlessly. Of course he had heard about the Tokubetsu Jonin from his father. The Seductive Snake of the Torture and Interrogation department. He wasn't expecting her to become a teacher, but he secretly wished Kiba, Hinata and Shino good luck with the lad-. He suddenly looked around before locking eyes with Shino, who looked down sadly.

"Did you guys forget about me?" Shino asked as everyone except Kiba, who was no longer there, Anko, and Iruka, stared at him in shock.

"Oh my god, Shino I'm so sorry!" Sakura said as she growled at Naruto, "This is your fault!"

"Me? I at least remembered he was there!" Naruto whined back, not noticing the look on Shino's face lit up from that comment.

_**"You forgot him, I was the one that remembered." **_Kurama growled in annoyance, but Naruto helplessly shrugged. _**"Whatever brat..."**_ Kurama went back to sleep, bored from nothing happening.

"Y-You remembered?" Shino looked like a little puppy just then, which made it all the more ironic when Akimaru jumped on his head and fell asleep.

"Y-Yeah! Like I could forget my friend!" Naruto stuttered out aloud. _Man I need to remember Shino more! This is the first time I seen him genuinely happy like this! _Kurama just snorted indecently as Shino actually smiled.

The whole room turned silent in shock at the look. "Thanks Naruto." Shino said sincerely, not even bothered by the shock on everyone's faces. Iruka numbly noticed the crimson glint in Naruto's eyes taking over.

**"Of course he's happy that someone remembered him."** Kurama said boredly from Naruto, who hmph'd as he was pushed from consciousness so Kurama could explain, **"Remember, his insects**** eat up all his Chakra, and you ninja are dumb enough to only use Chakra to search for someone's presence, which makes it easy to pass over his presence since he has next to no Chakra. Shino could be the best Ninja from everyone here just because of that, and could be a great teacher on presence hunting. Isn't that right...Iruka-sensei?"**Kurama explained, not really liking the suffix of Iruka's name.

"T-That's right Naruto." Iruka stuttered a bit, doing his best to hide Kurama's presence, but Sakura beat him to it.

"That's Kurama. Naruto already introduced us to him before when we were helping Sasuke." Sakura explained in confusion, "I thought you already knew that?" Sakura asked as Iruka groaned.

"I thought I told you that it was a secret!" Iruka scolded Kurama and Naruto, who only rose his-Naruto's- eyebrow.

**"They're close friends to Naruto, it would be stupid to hide it from them."**Kurama shrugged, **"My point still stands, he would great at teaching Naruto and the gang on how to hunt presences without relying on their Chakra, I can't really do the same for Naruto since I sense emotion rather than Chakra, which has its own problems, I would suggest having the teams meet up at least once a week for that training, but I'm not the Jonin here am I?" **Kurama gave a fox grin that did nothing to help Iruka's already shattered nerves. Iruka coughed.

"A-Anyways, Team Seven's Jonin sensei will be Hatake Kakashi...I recommend you guys get something to do for two hours." Iruka said, noting with confusion the groan that came from Kurama.

_**"Great, the brat gets the brat to train him...how poetic." **_Kurama deadpanned, leaving Iruka and the rest in confusion and doing nothing to justify it.

"I guess we'll just do some personal training while waiting for him, we can just work on the styles we got from the library some more." Sakura shrugged, more than happy to do some personal training, leaving a light smile to take over Naruto's, for the crimson eyes finally turned to sapphire, and Sasuke's faces.

"Hmph, tell him to meet us at the library." Sasuke shrugged.

"Yatta! More sparring between me and Sasuke-teme! I'll beat you today!" Naruto grinned as Sasuke simply hmph'd again, but couldn't hide the rising smirk on his face.

The rest of the Fox Squad just rolled their eyes, well used to this, heck Sakura didn't even try pounding Naruto's head in like a certain other timeline's Sakura would have done.

"And finally, Team 11's Jonin Sensei will be..." Iruka tried to introduce as a knock sounded from the door...which was across from a hole in the opposite wall. Sighing, Iruka opened the door to show Sarutobi Asuma at the door.

"Isn't that supposed to be Team 10?" Asuma smirked as Iruka shook his head.

"We had an extra team this year, but all of them dropped out. Admittedly, I didn't want to change the teams to One, Two, and Three, so I kept it to where it was before." Iruka shrugged, inwardly panicking that it was supposed to be Team 10 and he was just so off put from Naruto, Anko, and Kurama to recall it correctly. Asuma knowingly put a hand on Iruka's shoulder.

"Relax, relax! We can just call it Team 10 because the other teams dropped out, makes no difference to me. So, Shikamaru, Ino, and Choji right?" Asuma grinned, glossing over Iruka's mistake casually. Iruka nodded.

Shikamaru simply stared at Asuma as Choji and Ino continued to talk with Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke...though Sasuke barely talked that much, and was more just planing out their trips to the library.

"So, I take it you're Shikamaru?" Asuma walked over to Shikamaru with a friendly smile upon his face. Shikamaru simply nodded.

"Yeah, I was just thinking of plans for the future so don't mind me. We'll wait on Naruto's sensei to get here and then I was thinking of doing a bit of study at the library together." Shikamaru said simply, looking towards the rest of the people there. No one even seemed to notice that Hinata and Shino had followed after Kiba later on, but Shikamaru had noted it when Asuma was walking in, with the two waving goodbye to them. Neither wanted to make too much presence about heading out, so Shikamaru just smiled and gave a little wave of his hand at them.

"Well, you could do that when training with me." Asuma slyly said with a mock of a shrug. Shikamaru merely groaned.

"I got better things to do, thanks. I gotta work on my Shadow Stitching style more, on top of that I can do to learn that presence seeking without Chakra thing that Kurama was talking about. Kurama's right, there's plenty of ninja that hide their Chakra, and if I can learn to sense without looking for one's Chakra, then I would be able to be a better asset to the team, not to mention be able to direct Choji and Ino to where they need to be." Shikamaru explained, leading Asuma to let out a chuckle.

"Well, well, well! It looks like Shikamaru's already growing up, but have you considered that you could infuse the Chakra into the air itself? If you do that, you can use it to show when a presence is there as well by seeing what the Chakra can't see." Asuma countered, trying his best to describe it as a silhouette around the person.

"At most that'll tell you they are there, but at minimum it would give you away to the enemy. The Hidden mist use that through their Hidden Mist Jutsu and it practically gives away that they are in the area. If I'm able to sense without the use of Chakra, I can keep my position hidden while still being able to pull off the same effect, saving Chakra for the fight itself instead of wasting it before hand." Shikamaru didn't skip a beat with his response.

"Would there even be a way to do it? Sensors have been trying to find that out for years and haven't found a way to sense without the use of Chakra in the end." Asuma was too shocked to really give a good response, instead trying to throw Shikamaru off his plan. Shikamaru smirked.

"Why not just train in the art of using the senses? The Inuzuka's have used their sense of smell over Chakra, The Aburame's use their insect companions, which feed off their own Chakra in the process, and there are plenty of other families that have their own way of hunting. What if there was a way to incorporate that all, without having to be tied down to using Chakra to sense? A way to subtly be aware of the world around you at all times?" Shikamaru grinned, "That's what I'm going to find out."

Asuma sighed. "I was afraid you would say that...Well I can try and find some sensing scrolls to help you out, but I'm not sure how much help they would be..." Asuma tried to say, defeated, as Shikamaru shook his head.

"Unless you can get me into the higher branches of the library, I already looked through all they have. Sadly, everything from Genin up is locked away until we get that headband. Naruto and the rest of us already decided that the moment we become Genin that we were all going to meet up at the library in order to see what they had, and in order to spar and help each other out. Kiba and them will probably be late because of Anko, but the rest of us can still go." Shikamaru shrugged as he looked to the completely defeated Asuma with a smirk, "You can come and watch if you wish." He walked on over to the group and joined in the conversation, leaving Asuma in a state of shock.

Iruka snickered as Asuma gave him a dirty glare. "Shut your mouth or I'll tell Anko **that **night." Asuma growled at him, with Iruka's eyes becoming terrified.

"Please don't."

* * *

"Alright! We're true ninja now! Let's get us some ramen!" Naruto bellowed with a grin upon his face as the group of seven walked out of the Academy. Asuma followed dejectedly alongside the remaining Fox Squad members, each of which had their own form of excitement showing.

"Nah, let's get some Yakiniku Q!" Choji challenged, equally as boisterous as his surrogate brother.

"What!? Come on Choji! We just had that the last time we celebrated, it's Ichiraku time!" Naruto whined out.

Sasuke smirked, "Actually, we had Ichiraku the last time." He said offhandedly.

"What!? Come on..." Naruto exclaimed in disappointment.

"Why don't we just have both?" Shikamaru rolled his eyes at Sakura's claim.

"ALRIGHT!" Naruto yelled at the top of his lungs, "Thanks Sakura, you're the best!" He grinned with a foxish charm before skipping off ahead humming a song about getting ramen.

"Prepare your wallet old man, you're buying." The Fox Squad -minus Naruto- shared a smirk at Shikamaru's comment.

"W-What!?" Asuma said in shock, as it was no secret that Naruto drove up the cost anytime he was near the Ichiraku Ramen shop.

"You're the adult here, so you're buying. It's the least you can do since we're letting you come with us." Shikamaru shrugged to the agreements of the rest of the squad.

Naruto wasn't entirely sure why Kurama started laughing out loud, but decided not to question it that much. Whatever it is, he would find it out soon. Instead, he continued singing his Ramen song with glee that they were heading to Ichiraku and Yakiniku Q. Kurama had a sort-of lopsided frown at his host. On one hand, he was honestly happy and everything...but on the other hand, he was shunting off all his pain to the side, not wanting to deal with it at all. It wasn't healthy for anyone and Kurama didn't want them to build up and up until it broke Naruto to pieces.

_Don't worry, he's strong you know? _A voice echoed through Naruto's mind as Kurama could have swore he imagined it. In fact, he couldn't even see Naruto react to it. Kurama deadpanned before just thinking it was his own voice in a sense. Naruto WAS and IS a strong kid, he knew that, but at the same time, he was a dumbass in multiple areas. He had no idea how bad his life was going to get just because of Kurama's existence, and on top of that, Kurama couldn't even use all his strength without risking Naruto's own health. Naruto just wasn't ready to handle him whatsoever and it hurt to watch. He had no idea what this Kakashi guy was going to do about it, but the only Kakashi he knew was being one of the three brats that used to follow his old host's partner around. But after the whole mess when Naruto was born, he had no idea what happened to the kit's parents, nor the three brats. Kurama groaned lightly, causing Naruto to give out a questioning grunt in response.

_**"It's nothing Naruto, don't worry about it. Just thinking about some stuff." **_Kurama waved it off, causing Naruto to shrug and carry on. Kurama just wasn't sure what to do, and he knew it was nothing like him, but he was in charge of a near-suicidal brat and it changed him somewhat. He had no idea where his other half was, and well...He couldn't do much to save Minato in the end. He scoffed mentally this time, mad that he used the man's name like he had. He had barely managed to stop him from using the Death Seal, but couldn't do much in order to save him from that damn Uchiha. Kurama schooled his thoughts, noting that even Naruto stilted slightly from the rush of killing intent that had leaked from Kurama.

_"K-Kurama, what's wrong?" _Naruto thought with a stutter from obvious fear. Kurama sighed.

_**"Just some bad memories, go enjoy yourself today Naruto, look, you're already at the store." **_Kurama didn't have to say anything more as Naruto yelled in glee at finally making it to his favorite stall. Kurama sighed once more before curling into a ball. He hated his prison, for it forced him to be bored for most of the time, but that boredom led to thinking, and all he could do was try not to think of his earlier memories before they consume him. That gate was still in his memories, and he could only imagine how bad he would be if that seal was broken, and how soon it would have to be released in order to help Naruto out. Kurama barely even paid attention to the festivities that Naruto was partaking in, the jokes at Asuma's now-empty wallet, and the laughter that the group went to, but the small bit of attention he did pay was shown in the smile that Kurama carried. He knew it wouldn't last forever, a ninja could never have only happy moments, but he could say that he was more than happy to try and keep Naruto safe.

_Heh, can't believe you fell for him that fast. _Another voice joined his head, but Kurama ignored it. He bet that if it was a different world, if he had been imprisoned instead of helped, if his memories weren't sealed for his own protection, and if he wasn't shown the kindness of humans, that Kurama would have been completely different from what he was now. He was in charge of Naruto's safety, and he would be damned if he was going to let the little kit get hurt on his watch. Naruto was a good kid, but he would be a terrible ninja.

_More like he would be Too good of a ninja. _His mind unhelpfully informed, he growled lightly at the thought, but couldn't do a thing to deny it. Ninjas had to have stone-cold hearts, they had to kill and fight for their nation, they had to face deaths and everything falling apart around them. There was no guarantee of anything, any tomorrow. Naruto couldn't do any of that, his heart was too pure to risk tainting with death on his hands.

_You say that, but he already killed someone. _The second voice popped back in once more as he shook his head. Something felt off with that death. No matter how many times Kurama and Naruto relive the memory, it just felt...off. Ninjas were known for manipulation, and though it was no easy feat, there was no possible way that Naruto, who wasn't even a Genin, could beat a Chunnin one on one, even with Kurama's strength.

_So you think that man is still alive!? _He could hear shock rising in the first voice, but Kurama nodded resolutely. There was no doubt about it, that man was nearly certainly alive still, having used Naruto to create his cover.

_Why not tell Naruto about it?_ The second voice, a lot more calm now, asked with just a bit of fear. Kurama looked towards where Naruto was enjoying time eating out at Yakiniku Q and then thought about what could happen if he told him. He decided against it. Naruto felt terribly after thinking he killed the man, and though it was cruel, he was better off thinking he did kill him, if only just to not cause him to fall apart all over again if the man was in-fact dead. Though Kurama doubted it, he only had a prisoner's view on the mess, and while his gut told him the man was alive, he had no proof. Naruto needed the guilt of death on him, if only to keep him from getting cocky and arrogant of his skills, alongside giving him a necessary course of a Ninja's lifestyle. He can still relax like this even with that guilt on him.

_Yet he only can do this by pushing off that guilt to you. _The first voice cut in his thoughts as Kurama sighed. Indeed, he was pushing that guilt further and further into his mind, nearly completely onto him, but Kurama would most likely not be there with Naruto all the time, and he was certainly not going to be charged with Naruto's own guilt, that was his problem to deal with.

_Then what are you going to do? _The second voice asked as Kurama's smile turned into a near frown. He didn't know. What could he do to help the kit, he was a giant demon fox with nine tails, one of the nine Chakra Beasts, and had no idea how one dealt with stuff like this. He couldn't tell Naruto what he assumed was the truth without ripping a hole in Naruto's heart, but at the same time, he had no idea how to help Naruto get through his guilt at that same event.

_You'll find out in time Kurama. _The voices seemed to vanish with that line, leaving Kurama alone to his own thoughts, but he was still nowhere near an answer to that question.

For what could he really do?

* * *

Naruto and the rest of the Fox Squad let out a satisfied sigh after finishing their meals.

"Man that hit the spot!" Naruto said with utter bliss in his tone, a bit over-exaggerated, but the rest of the squad couldn't bear to care. Asuma had big fat anime tears coming out of his eyes as he moaned about the fact that they took his next month's salary with how much they spent, but even he was in high spirits and was more just messing around, (Is what he wished, but they really did take next month's salary with the amount that they ate...Then again, he could always foot the bill towards Kakashi...) when they went towards the library.

"So, now what?" Sasuke asked, looking somewhat bored again.

Shikamaru shrugged, "I figured we could explore the Genin section, see if we can't find anything we can use, but we're just killing time until your sensei arrives."

"SASUKE! I CHALLENGE YOU!" Naruto grinned as he shouted his challenge, pointing an accusatory finger towards the non-impressed Genin.

"Naruto, we're outside of a library...SO SHUT UP!" Sakura muttered through gritted teeth before yelling and punching Naruto on the head.

"Sakura~" Naruto moaned in pain.

Shikamaru groaned as he looked towards Ino, who was strangely quiet the whole time, Choji was also quiet, but was more enjoying the atmosphere and eating his chips, but Ino hadn't spoken a word since they were in the class. Shikamaru, with a eyebrow raised from something akin to curiosity, walked over to her. "You okay?" He asked casually, noting that she jolted from the sudden attention she had gotten.

She tried waving it off with a light blush upon her face. "Y-Y-Yeah! I-I'm alright!" Ino stuttered maddening, causing Shikamaru to snicker a bit. "H-Hey! What's the big idea!" She exclaimed from embarrassment.

"Nothing, I was just wondering why you were so quiet." Shikamaru shrugged as Ino fell quiet again. He sighed, "You know nothing's going to change with you acting like this you troublesome woman. I can tell something's wrong, even if they're too busy goofing off to tell. I think even Choji has and was keeping you company. So what's wrong Ino?" Shikamaru said, looking her dead in the face.

Ino looked down, playing with her hair with a deep blush on her face alongside a bittersweet smile, "I...I don't know. It just feels like I'm not really helping all that much here. It's just...I don't want to ruin the mood or anything." Ino cut herself off with a shake of her head as Shikamaru sighed with another mumble of 'Troublesome Woman' from underneath his breath.

"Ino, we're teammates, near on best friends now, you can tell me if anything is bothering you." Shikamaru told her, not realizing that they had drawn the attention of the others before Sakura joined in.

"Yeah Ino, come on, what's wrong?" Sakura said with a smile.

Ino sighed. "I don't know why you guys allow me to be friends with you after what I did..." Ino said with guilt lining her tone, but Naruto himself grunted.

"We went through this already Ino, we already told you that it was whoever put that Genjutsu on you's fault, not yours." Naruto said offhandedly. If he had to be honest, he still didn't trust Ino all the way, not after what she did to Sakura, but Sakura seemed to have forgave her.

"Bu-" Ino tried to interject before Naruto gave her a mild glare.

"He's right Ino, it's not your fault. Look, I already forgave you a long time ago for that, and we're Genin now! We got bigger things to worry about then stuff from the past. Don't worry about it, okay?" Sakura said with a smile.

"Like she said, don't overthink it too much, if thinking is doing this to you, then stop doing it you troublesome woman." Shikamaru said with a tap of his finger against her forehead, causing her to blush once more. Sakura snickered teasingly but refused to explain why it caused Ino to go after her in embarrassed rage. All in all, they weren't allowed into the library with how they were acting, so they decided to go a different day when they could get Kiba and the rest of Team Six with them instead of just two of the three teams.

"Man, we never even met that annoying Kakashi person today!" Naruto whined while heading home after Sakura, Sasuke and himself split from Asuma and Team Ten.

Sasuke merely shrugged, "Not like we really need him." Naruto groaned a bit from that.

"Yeah but, he can teach us stuff that wouldn't be in the library!" Naruto fired back, causing a surprised look from Sasuke and Sakura.

"Wow, that was actually intelligent of you Naruto, did Kurama give you that one?" Sakura joked, but the look on Naruto's face said it all, and soon enough all three were laughing at him.

They barely even noticed the weird man on the street, having a mask on his face that covered most of it, simply reading a book; however, Naruto noticed him when since he was looking around.

"Yo." Kakashi said simply as he stealthly walked up behind them, Sasuke and Sakura froze, but Naruto was mostly just livid.

"Where were you!?" Naruto yelled as Kakashi shrugged.

"Was helping an old woman cross the road, and was waiting on her to get done shopping to help her back across." Kakashi didn't even miss a beat, and to only insert more irony, an old woman having brought groceries was needing help crossing the road, to which Kakashi helped her. "And now that that's done, I take it you're the brats I'm looking after?" Kakashi said, noting the jaw drops with a mental glee that was unparalleled by many. "Though I think I might have to ask someone to hinge your jaws back up with how they're loose like that." Kakashi joked casually, before avoiding a rushed punch attempt by Naruto.

Naruto growled out as Sasuke glared at the two of them. "Naruto, not now." Sasuke shook his head at his friend, to which Naruto tried arguing. "I'll tell Sakura about **that**" Sasuke said as Kakashi watched with amusement on how fast the color drained from Naruto's face, and how fast he stopped arguing.

"Tell me about **WHAT **exactly!?" Sakura loomed with oppressive rage barely hidden at the two of them, even Sasuke looked slightly nervous.

"Nothing!" Naruto readily replied, and soon Kakashi was forgotten once more as they ran off into the distance.

Kakashi sighed, "And here I was going to tell them to meet me tomorrow by noon for the test. Oh well, I guess I can just wake them up at eight for it." Kakashi shrugged before disappearing, but not without a mumble that went unheard by all around him, "Not like they'll pass like that anyways."

* * *

_**A/N AGHHHHHHHHHHHH YES! Welcome to the end of the chapter guys and holy shit I am so sorry about how long this took. The beginning area took the grand majority of the time and it was just rewrite after rewrite trying to decide where to take it (The first paragraph was the only thing that stayed the same throughout, as I thought it was pretty good, but I just couldn't decide on where to start the damn thing afterwards)**_

_**in fact, I had originally started it in Choji's house, then thought against it and decided to start at the school, then reworked that to where Sakura punched him. It was a nightmare I tell you.**_

**_As soon as I got that all worked through, it was smooth sailing from there, to the point where I finished the chapter in just 3-4 days of writing it, which really shows the amount of writers block that happened._**

**_Thank you all so goddamn much for reading, it means a lot and I swore to myself and you all that I will finish this fanfic, and I mean to keep that promise no matter what._**

**_This is mostly just a small calm before the storm chapter in order to lead into the famed Bell Test, but on top of that, this also sets up some plots for the future, and yeah I do like InoxShikamaru a bit, but I'm not at all going to focus on that pairing, but I did give you guys a nice moment to make up for that lol._**

**_So yeah, the next chapter will be the bell test, and then we'll start a set of chapters showing their training with Kakashi (Or chapter, idk how much I'm going to show of that all, or how many in a row. I think it'll just be placed in the chapters without needing their own chapters, but we'll see!)_**

**_Once more, thank you ALL for reading and following along, I read each and every one of the reviews, and it means a lot, good or bad. I try to take the critism to heart, and work with that all in mind. It really helps a lot guys and I thank everyone who reviewed, favorited, and/or followed the story._**

**_Well with all that out of the way, I will see you next time with some more Two and the Same, See you next time!_**

**_-Char_**

_**P.S. I know that the children, who are 12 for anyone that forgot, act a lot older than they should, but you also have to understand the setting with it as well. They're Ninja, and Naruto just killed (presumably) a man last episode being Mizuki, so I think that they would act a bit more mature. As you guys see, they have their childish moments, but I digress. (That and I kinda always wrote them somewhat mature and I kinda don't want to admit that, whoops :P ) All jokes aside, thank you all for the support, and I'll see you next time.**_


	9. Team 7 Arc 2 - Memories and Visions

_**A/N Sorry bout the wait for this one! All I want to say is at the end of the chapter, so let's begin and I'll see you there!**_

* * *

Two and the Same: Chapter 8 - Memories of the Past and Visions of the Future!

Choza yawned as for once, his two children didn't wake him up earlier than he would like to be up by. Groggily, he got up to start his morning training and stretches when a knock came from the door. Rolling his eyes at his luck, he opened the door. "Who is it?" He asked as an Anbu ninja gave him a letter before disappearing to wherever Anbu agents shinshun off too. Choza eyed the letter with a feeling of annoyance as he recognized the Hokage's symbol on it. He didn't even get to eat his breakfast or catch a snack first! Sighing at the missed opportunity, he sat down in his chair and opened the letter.

_"Hello Choza, I know it has been a while since I have sent one of these letters to you, but desperate times call for desperate measures. I need to talk to you about your two sons. Meet me at the top of the Hokage summit by noon if you will, and don't forget that you are also a Jonin yourself._

_-Sandaime"_

Choza sighed as he read the letter before activating the attached seal to burn the letter completely. After sweeping the ashes into a nearby trash can, he looked at the clock and smiled. He still had more than enough time to eat and send Choji and Naruto on their way.

"So..." Choza said aloud, looking towards a seemingly random wall in the kitchen. "Want to explain why you're here?" He asked as the wall seemed to shimmer a bit, before Tenzo walked from it.

"How did you guess?" Tenzo asked, confused by it. Choza simply pointed to his nose.

"I can smell your scent you know? I may not be as good at tracking as the Inuzuka clan, but I can still make out the scents that make up my home. I don't think a scent of burnt tree is a part of that home." Choza explained, motioning to the singe on Tenzo's jacket. "What happened?" Choza asked as Tenzo shook his head. "I see..." Choza groaned. "I'm spending time with my family first, and then I will go, I will not make the same mistake as last time a mission like this was given to me, understood?" Tenzo nodded.

"That's probably for the best. Guy-san was looking for you earlier, said something about y-" Tenzo tried to explain as Choza immediately covered his mouth before looking at the door with a look of intense suspense before sighing in relief.

"I rather not summon him here if you don't mind." Choza chuckled sheepishly as Tenzo stared blankly.

"Anyways, he was saying something about you not telling Naruto and Iruka about your concerns." Tenzo finished his statement, "I'm not that dumb Choza-senpai, I know better than to say you-" Tenzo tried to say before covering his own mouth with a look of guilt.

Choza stared with a blank gaze before the two turned to the door.

A few seconds past before a knock rang at the door.

"I KNEW IT!" Choza yelled as he opened the door to see Kakashi.

"Yo. Knew what?" Kakashi said as Choza blinked in embarrassment before gesturing Kakashi inside, knowingly showing Tenzo's presence as well. Kakashi shrugged and walked on in before Choza shut the door again.

"Choza was fearing summoning Guy-san." Tenzo explained calmly.

"Ahh, I see." Kakashi acknowledged with a look of sympathy, "The rumors are true my friend." He said seriously.

"Y-You don't mean.." Choza said in shock before Kakashi nodded, "Oh thank Kami I was thinking I was going insane." Choza sighed as the last few weeks rolled in his mind. "How does that even work!?" Choza asked as Kakashi shrugged.

"It's like that Genjutsu, no one knows how it works, but it's why Guy is the best messenger, you just have to say youth and h-" Kakashi gave an eye smile as Choza stared in shock as a knock rang at the door.

"DID I HEAR SOMEONE TALKING ABOUT THE WONDERS OF YOUTH!?" Guy yelled from the door as Choza screamed.

* * *

Naruto yawned as he woke up to the yelling from downstairs. Rubbing his eyes he yawned once again.

_**"Please don't yawn again."**_ Kurama groaned as he yawned from inside of Naruto. He had been a lot less active lately, calmly sleeping in the forest that now populated Naruto's Chakra Core. _**"Not me being less active, it's more me just not having anything to say." **_Kurama countered with an eye roll, _**"You might want to get ready, or else you might have to be subjected to the "wonders of youth." **_Kurama sarcastically said as Guy ran towards Naruto with a glint in his eye.

"Do you wish to learn about the wonders o-" Guy tried to say before being dragged away by an oddly frantic Choza. "I JUST WANT TO TEACH THEM ABOUT THE WONDERS OF YOUTH!" The two just stared with equal amounts of disbelief as they watched Choza kick the overactive Guy-san out of the house.

_**"No." **_Kurama said simply as Naruto opened his mouth.

"But-"

_**"No." **_Kurama repeated once more, _**"Try asking again and I will not let you sleep for the next week." **_Naruto pouted as he stopped trying to ask.

Naruto sighed as he snapped back to attention to see Choji yawning towards him. "Mornin' Naruto..." Choji said with a light wave. "What happened?" He asked, as Naruto shrugged.

"Apparently someone wanted to talk about the 'wonders of youth' or something." Naruto shrugged before the two yelled at Guy appearing in Naruto's window.

"RUN NARUTO!" Choji yelled as the two rushed down the stairs.

"You two, wait a moment!" Choza said as the two tried explaining what happened, only managing to confuse Choza more from how fast the two spoke. Eventually Choza sighed.

"Did either of you two say the Y word?" Choza said seriously as Choji pointed at Naruto.

Naruto nervously laughed before nodding. Choza groaned.

"There's a reason why every household bans that word, apparently Guy-san is summoned by the word." Choza explained to the two. "But that's not why I want you two to wait." Choza said calmly, noting that Guy waited at the staircase with a blinding grin of understanding before disappearing, presumably because someone had said youth under their breath.

"What is it Dad?" Choji asked as Choza smiled grimly.

"I don't know entirely, but it looks like I'm going to have to go away on another mission; however, you all are going to become Genin today and pass those tests of yours. Choji, I know you will be working with Shikamaru and Ino for your team and I hope you find the reason for you to fight. Naruto, you're working with Sasuke and Sakura if I remember correctly, and I know you're working towards visiting the remains of Uzushiogakure, but remember to fight for the future you wish to hold as well. I can't express how proud I am of you two, and I hope you listen to your senseis." Choza smiled, but his smile faded a bit from the confusion on Naruto's face.

"Kakashi-sensei? He was great before, but he seemed to avoid the three of us yesterday, what do you mean by tests?" Naruto asked in genuine confusion as Choza sighed.

"Leave it to Kakashi to do that...he was just here earlier, but he left in the chaos with Guy-san..." Choza groaned as he realize that eye smile he gave when he left was because of this happening.

"Kakashi-sensei was here earlier!?" Naruto asked in shock as Choza nodded. "Wonder why..."

"Maybe to do this?" Kakashi gave an eye smile as both Naruto and Choji jumped in shock to turn around towards him. Choza gave him a bit of the stink eye, having realized he was under a subtle genjutsu the whole time.

"I assume since Guy appeared?" Choza asked with a raised eyebrow as Kakashi shook his head.

"It was actually after I said the Y word, I got you with the Genjutsu when you were getting him out of the house." Kakashi explained as Choza blanked.

"Oh Kami he actually is summoned by the word." Choza realized with a cold jolt. Kakashi gave a sympathising nod.

Choji and Naruto watched in pure confusion as Naruto opened his mouth.

"Why are we avoiding the word you-" Naruto began to ask as the three covered his mouth.

"We avoid it because it summons Guy-san to try and convert young genin into little clones of himself. Choza-san was tramatised by him because of one of his own Genin teams.

"HEY!" Choza said in offense as Kakashi blankly stared at him. "I-It was...okay maybe a little bit." Choza looked down in a bit of dejection as Kakashi smirked a bit before deciding to break the news to Naruto a bit.

"Don't worry, I doubt anyone would have expected Honoke to become last generation's Guy-san disciple." Kakashi shrugged as he noticed Naruto's head shot up to look at him with a look of pure disbelief.

"Honoke-tousan was Guy-san's disciple?" Naruto asked as Kakashi nodded.

"Yup, he was placed on a Genin team underneath Choza-san." Kakashi winked at Choza, but was unable to tell if Choza understood, Naruto didn't notice for he had already began pressuring Choza to explain.

Choza rolled his eyes with a smile of relief. "Yeah, each generation has at least one person that was like Guy, and Honoke was part of it. It scared me relentless because of the Genjutsu. No one knows why it happens, but if two Guy-sans get together, a huge sunset Genjutsu will come out. Honoke since snapped out of it thankfully, but still trained relentlessly in order to protect another one of his teammates." Choza looked a tad depressed at the memory before immediately shaking the feeling off with a fake smile, "But that's for a different day when I have the time to explain the full story to you two. For now, Kakashi here is probably going to take you to start your tests. Right?" Choza asked as Kakashi nodded with the two's attention on him.

"Yup. But first, you two need to get dressed and take a shower." Kakashi said, causing embarrassed blushes to show on both Choji and Naruto's faces from the fact that they were still in their pajamas. Kakashi rolled his eye as the two rushed off before turning towards Choza. Kakashi sighed. "It's still hard?" He asked as Choza nodded.

"Yeah...First Kishu and then Honoke..." Choza sighed, not bothering to hide his sorrow. Kakashi had no real words to help him, since he too knew the pain of losing your comrades. The two sat in a somber silence before Naruto and Choji ran back down.

"Ready!" They cried in union, twin grins on their faces. Kakashi eyed the two with a look before shaking his head.

"Using the Cleaning Jutsu doesn't count." Kakashi said as the two looked in shock.

"W-What do you mean Kakashi-sensei!?" Naruto stuttered out as Kakashi chuckled.

"The more times you use the Cleaning Jutsu, the more you're forcing your body to clean itself completely. It wears out the body and makes it less effective each time you do it in succession. That's why you're only supposed to use it on the field. I can still smell you two stinking so I suppose you two have been using it very often lately." Kakashi explained, causing the two to recoil back when they smelt themselves, before rushing back to take a shower.

"I'M FIRST!" "NO I AM!" The two fought for the right of first shower, much to the amusement of the three adults present.

"At least Iruka-san is still alive, and it looks like he did a good job raising them into fine Genin." Tenzo said with a smirk present upon his face as Choza nodded with a small smile of his own.

"Indeed he did, I trained that brat right." Choza grinned, "He reminds me a lot of Iruka when he was younger actually, always upbeat and pranking everyone. I remember when he decided to go prank the Yondaime and swapped all the seals with explosive ones." Choza bellowed in laughter, "The Yondaime just sent each and every single seal onto Iruka's head in return using the Flying Raijin Seal!" Kakashi smiled in memory, but soon the two sobered again.

"It's almost twelve you know." Kakashi said casually as Choza nodded.

"Yeah...take care of them, alright?" Choza asked as Kakashi and Tenzo both nodded.

"Don't worry about it, it's S rank you know." Kakashi winked as Choza laughed a bit.

"With how many S ranked missions surround Naruto, you would think that he was a Hokage already." Choza grinned as Tenzo couldn't hide his snicker at the joke as Kakashi rolled his eye.

"Not much we can do about it right now, we haven't been able to get Naruto alone to talk about the whole issue, we been too busy with the Academy in order to try and teach him a bit more about Hashirama to get more jutsu out of him. On top of that, while we got the main traitor to the Academy and managed to release the Genjutsu on the Academy kunoichi, we have yet to find out how they managed to get them all under the Genjutsu, or even who they are. It's a mess and all the other higher ups are going crazy by this." Kakashi groaned out, having been on the receiving end of multiple people ranting to him about the mess. "And in the center of all of this is Naruto and his so-called _Fox Squad_ which has been giving the Chunnin a run for their money with how effective they have been at handling this mess." Kakashi continued, not even caring about how he was ranting to Choza at this point, Iruka still wore a grin whenever a Chunnin talked about them and wouldn't shut up about it. Choza merely smirked knowingly.

"If Iruka is bothering you, just tell him that you know about the _Sunset Incident_, that should get him off your back" Choza winked as Kakashi raised an eyebrow. "Let's say Honoke wasn't the only one who went through a Guy phase within my squad..." Choza's smirk merely turned into a grin as he looked away. "As for the other matters, I assume that's the topic the Hokage's wanting to talk to me about, and I should get going 'less I'm forced to Shunshin, which I rather not if possible." Choza said before getting up and stretching, waving goodbye to the two. "Make sure to keep them safe, or I'll make platter out of you two!" He said cheerfully, as if not threatening their lives at the moment. Kakashi and Tenzo waved back with smiles lining their faces, mask in Kakashi's case, as Choza disappeared.

* * *

Kurama rolled his eyes watching the turmoil within Naruto's head, and it must have been obvious enough that even Choji stared at Naruto with a look of worry on his face.

"Yeah, I'm worried about him too Naruto." Choji said as Naruto's head peaked up a bit. "But he's Dad! He's a big tough Jonin that's not going to back down that easily! He'll come back to us, I just know it!" Choji grinned as he stated this, leaving a smile to dawn upon Naruto's face as well. Previous worry forgotten, Naruto grinned back.

"Okay! Then let's do our best to prove we're Genin!" Kurama smiled at the two as they ran downstairs. It looked like the masked man, Kakashi if Kurama remembered correctly, wanted to tell Naruto and Choji something, but they simply ran on past without a second glance. Kurama grinned as he noticed the groan that came out of him and let out a barking laugh about it.

Naruto stopped in confusion. "What is it K-AH!" Naruto tried to ask as Kakashi suddenly appeared in front of the two of them, causing them both to yell out of surprise. "B-But you were just over there a-and now you're here!?" Naruto stuttered from the surprise, both confused, impressed, and desperate to learn whatever it was Kakashi had done. Kakashi didn't look as pleased.

"Now as I was going to tell you, you're not Genin just yet. Unless you pass your tests, you will not be Genin and I will send you right back to the Academy." Kakashi stated as a matter of fact. Naruto looked terrified as he stepped back in shock.

"EHHHHHHHHHH!?" He yelled out in shock, with Choji blanking at the thought of his dad's reaction. Kakashi gave an eye smile.

"Your test from me is to find me before the day is over, but you can only enlist help from your team members, see you later Naruto." Kakashi said before vanishing into a puff of smoke, leaving a surprised, terrified, and annoyed duo of children that were but weren't Genin, behind.

Tenzo stood behind Kakashi, and while aware of his plan, was kinda shocked when both children turned towards him with glints in their eyes. "Hi." He said simply before also proceeding to vanish, leaving both to groan.

"Now what are we supposed to do!?" The two complained in union as Kurama snorted, but said nothing to help them out.

"I-I guess we should find Shikamaru and them, maybe they'll have an idea to help us!" Choji suddenly said as Naruto nodded with a grin.

"Yeah! Then let's go!" The two rushed off with grins atop their faces through the warm sunny day that met them.

* * *

Choza sighed as he casually walked on up the long walk leading to the Hokage faces, a national monument for the villagers residing the tree-hidden village. The four faces of the previous Hokage etched themselves to the wall via Earth Jutsu binding the rock carvings of the Hokage's face onto the mountain itself, cementing them into a permanent bind that would never leave. On the paved walkway, Choza walked up to a waiting Sandaime who merely glanced on over.

"Do I still have to leave the X and wait?" Choza smirked playfully as a way to ease the tension that befell the two. The Sandaime merely shook his head with his own small smile.

"Kakashi had let me know you were coming, and unlike him, I don't believe in waiting." The Sandaime finally joked on back, leading to a snort from the present Akimichi.

"You mean he wasn't three hours late?" Choza chimed on back, leading to a laugh sounding from the Sandaime himself, but soon the mood tensed once more. The once joyous face, instead looked towards the village before them, leading Choza to follow suit.

"The world is changing Choza, and I fear I'm no longer equipped to change with it. Eventually I will retire, and I know that this village will need a new head. Naruto, for all his ambitions of becoming Hokage, is much too young and rash to even begin to be Hokage. Shikaku is still busy with his teaching duties and as the main advisory figure for the Academy and Hokage seat as a whole. That leaves only a few people I trust to lead the village in my stead." The Sandaime, no...Hiruzen, stared at Choza from atop his earth-shaped head.

Choza's eyes widened at the underlying message being sent his way. "Y-You can't mean!" He stuttered out, shocked at the mere idea of him as Hokage. Hiruzen shook his head.

"Instead of conforming to the village's desires, you set your personal grudges aside to take Naruto in, protect him and raise him. You didn't force the Akimichi gut upon him and even changed your way of living to accommodate him. You taught Iruka, who is still our best Academy Professor there, who could rival most Jonins in his field, Honoke, who taught Naruto the basics of becoming a ninja while acting as a landlord as well as one of the best defenders of the village next to most of our highest ranking Ninja, and...and Kishu." Both of their faces grimace at the memory that befell them. "The point is, you are a great teacher, and while not my first choice, I do trust you Choza. The only other one I would trust would be Tsunade, but with her still out there drinking her woes away and losing countless cash at casinos, I find it hard to want her back here." Hiruzen kept his grimace as Choza raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"How does she keeps getting all that money that she keeps losing?" Choza asked, having heard rumors of the legendary sucker and the millions that she had lost gambling. Hiruzen smirked.

"She still gets paid by us, and we use her as an...asset to spread the money around. After all, it costs to set up jobs, and with her losing so often, even people with terrible luck can still win against her. The wealth then gets spread around in a cycle of jobs, her losing, and the casinos paying us or the other villages the fees." Hiruzen explained.

Choza blinked in surprised, "Does she even know she's doing it?" He asked, noting that Naruto's curiosity was rubbing off on him somewhat. Hiruzen's smirk widened ever so slightly as he shook his head.

"She hasn't a clue, but her aide did find out and agreed to keep it a secret, but enough on the passerby conversations..." Hiruzen sighed, becoming serious as he turned to him. "Choza, I have a new mission for you." The Sandaime said curtly as Choza stiffly nodded. "While Naruto and Choji are off training with their respective Jonin-senseis, I want you to be on Recon duty, scouting out for information surrounding the Genjutsu Mistress that attacked the Academy. Jiraiya has picked up a trail about her from Pain's assistance-" The Sandaime explained.

"Wait! How does Pain know about that!?" Choza's outburst merely gained a sigh from the Sandaime.

"Pain had had the same happen within his own village, merely with different people involved, and using the same trick that we had done, got them cured. Apparently in total, four villages have been attacked by this Genjutsu. Jiraiya is currently in Kumogakure helping them through the Genjutsu and asking for information. Each village was hit the same way, through the smell of special white flowers covered with chakra. The villages are all out searching for info on this and I want you to help out, I've already sent Tsume alongside Shibi in order to recon trails that might lead to the culprit, but I want you there because of I feel you can help out by connecting with the villagers and asking around." The Sandaime explained.

"Hmm...what's the real reason? Tsume is much better with smelling out the traces, and Shibi's insects are more than good enough to keep her from getting infected and getting the chakra scent out of it, Jiraiya is just as good at getting the information out of the villagers than me, so why am I really getting sent on this?" Choza listed out, both confused and sceptical of why he was assigned.

The Sandaime merely laughed. "Would you believe me if I said it was because Jiraiya himself asked?" He grinned as Choza scoffed.

"Why am I not surprised..." Choza groaned slightly as the Sandaime handed him a letter, listing Jiraiya's request for his assistance, as well as a request to have Shikaku teach Naruto to control his handwriting in order for him to learn seals before he eventually heads to Uzushiogakure. Choza smiled. "Well in that case, I'll do my best to help out, but I still want to be around to help out Naruto and Choji. What time frame am I working with here?" Choza asked.

"Hmm...I would have to ask Kakashi about it, but I figure you can help back during the weekends in order to...touch up on ingredients as it were." Hiruzen smiled on back. "I expect you ready by sundown, so go enjoy the day, I hear Naruto and them are about to begin their exam shortly." Hiruzen said, looking down to see a tiny orange figure jumping towards a slightly bigger gray-haired figure. Choza laughed.

"It still amazes me that Kakashi agreed to training Naruto, if only I could thank Honoke for that." Choza laughed a bit sorrowfully as Hiruzen sighed.

"Remember Choza, they will always live on in your heart, just follow your Will of Flame, and they will be there besides you all the way." Hiruzen reminded him as Choza nodded.

"I know...it just doesn't make it any less painful. One of the few things I sympathize with Kakashi over is the loss of comrades will never go away." Choza's right hand slowly curled into a fist, "Tell me...do you think we'll ever see a way out of these wars?" Choza looked up to Hiruzen, only to find him staring upon the village.

"Maybe. But it won't be you or me that brings us there. We're raising the children that will bring us there, launching them into a world of turmoil and hoping they don't break from it. It would be viewed as cruel from some, but if they will have any hope of saving the world, they will need to get stronger, learn from the turmoil in order to bring it to a brighter future." Hiruzen explained calmly, looking older than his years.

"And if they don't?" Choza asked back as Hiruzen slowly turned towards him.

"Then we would have to hope for the generation on after, and so on and so forth until there comes a generation that learns to live in peace. All we can do is place our bets upon our children, and our children's children, and hope that one day that peaceful day comes." Hiruzen sighed. "But enough about all of that depressing talk, it's times like these that we should celebrate. A brand new class of Genin are being brought up, and they include your two sons, so go on and watch Choza. We'll discuss other matters back here at sundown." Hiruzen scoffed before disappearing with a smile upon his face.

Choza merely smiled on back before jumping down into the trees of Training Field Seven.

* * *

_**A/N Bit of a smaller chapter, but I am back! I'm sorry about the radio silence for the last while since Chapter 7, but I did want to say a few things.**_

_**1\. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone! I hope you all are having an amazing time and hope you have a great year on top of it!**_

_**2\. I finally have an idea of where the entire series will go, including an idea for later events past this fanfic! Including some original arcs involved.**_

_**3\. I still don't know what to do with wave arc tho, I'm mostly thinking of just key momenting that as the team goes by their life afterwards, since only some moments will change, but not enough to justify an entire arc.**_

_**4\. Interesting fact for this chapter. For the longest time I was trying to find a good way to get Naruto and co. into the fight against Kakashi, and had most of the chapter revolve around that. However, it felt really forced and just bad to where I didn't have any route to write, so instead I decided to focus on the side-plot for the chapter, which revolved around Choza. As you can tell, his time with Naruto has affected him, and Hiruzen trusts him a good amount because of it. Honestly Choza was one of my favorite Naruto characters, but I felt like he was never on screen, so it's fun writing him as a recon/spy character alongside Jiraiya. I figure with his cooking, he can get into good relations with the village, and listen to them rant and the like info that would be of use to him, kinda like Jiraiya does with drinking and autographing.**_

_**5\. Pain actually plays a more active role in the story here, because of his encounter with Jiraiya and Choza, it's implied within canon that Pain took control of Hidden in the Rain around the same time as the beginning of the series, and thus I had them take awareness to this.**_

_**6\. Thank you all for the support! It really makes my day just looking at the insane amount of followers, favorites and reviews, and I take my time to read through them all, I can't wait to continue this story and I hope you follow me the whole way through. The next upload will be of the first part of me breaking Chapter 6 apart, it's still very similar to the first half of the chapter, since most of the changes will be done to the second part of it, but I want to focus on that since I did make some major mistakes within the chapter. Then after Chapter 6 is fixed, I will be focusing on the Bell Test with Kakashi, all from Choza's perspective, since he will be there as a judge of sorts, and we might see some familiar faces pop on in as well.**_

_**As always, thank you all and I hope you have a fantastic day, I've been Char and I'll see you next time on Two and the Same!**_


	10. Team 7 Arc 3- The Genin section

_**A/N At the moment, the Chapter 6 part 1 is done, and I edited a bit of Part two, but I'm gonna combine both of them and somehow it'll be even bigger than before, and...**_

_**Yeesh, it might hit 30k words, and I don't know how I feel about that yet.**_

_**But, once again, thank you all and I hope you enjoy the chapter!**_

_**P.S. Yesh rl ran away from me again. I admit I haven't really been working on this that much, since I was getting back into Guild Wars 2 and a bunch of other games with friends of mine, but mostly just out of sheer forgetfulness. I'll try to get the next few chapters out faster, but I mostly put it down to not really knowing what to do in this arc all that much, and not really being a fan of time skipping around and the like. I think I can put in a few D rank missions to spice things up a bit, but I'll be limiting it to a few specific trainings, with the rest being discovered by the cast piecing the lessons together into something that works for them. I have a few ideas for that, but I gotta get to them, thus the slower pace atm. Sorry about the wait!**_

* * *

"KAKASHI-SENSEI!" Naruto yelled at the top of his lungs as Sasuke and Sakura popped up behind him as they rushed at the grey-haired figure.

Kakashi simply ran off, purposely slowing down enough for them to follow. Naruto growled, "HEY! YOU SAID IF WE FOUND YOU, WE WOULD PASS THIS STUPID TEST! GET BACK HERE!" Naruto yelled as he rushed on after him without a glance on back.

Sasuke let out a long standing groan as Sakura turned to him, both walking at a more reasonable pace towards them, seemingly in no hurry to get there. "What's wrong Sasuke?" Sakura asked, noting that Sasuke looked more moody than usual. Sasuke merely stared at her. "I take it you're also tired?" She asked as he nodded. "Hmm...what do you think is up with this test? Naruto and Choji got us screaming that if we fail it, we'll be sent back to the Academy..." Sakura questioned her thoughts aloud as Sasuke sighed.

"I don't know." Sasuke said simply as they walked towards Naruto, "It seems...off somehow." He continued, drawing Sakura's attention back towards him. "Think about it. We're chasing down a Jonin, who knows how to Shunshin...and he's casually walking away, even waiting for us with what's probably a clone to lead us somewhere. Naruto already fell for it, but this clone is just standing there waiting for us, following our walking movements exactly as if to make sure we have a route to follow. It just seems like a trap in the making, and...I don't know why." Sasuke finished his explanation with a sigh of annoyance, frustrated that he couldn't connect the pieces like Shikamaru probably would have been able to. He had started saying something towards them when Naruto brought the two teams together, but Sasuke wasn't able to tell what. Sakura's hmm snapped him out of his thoughts as he looked towards her.

"Well...it is a test after all, which means that it has to be something that all three of us have to do, since otherwise he wouldn't send the clone. The task was to find Kakashi-sensei before the end of the day, so why would he freely broadcast himself here, leading us to that field for some reason? Wouldn't that just defeat the purpose of the test?" Sakura asked as the Kakashi clone walked up to them, but made sure to stay far enough back as to not be reached by the two.

"Well, since you two are curious, that's only part of the test. The other part is what I'm testing right now, and if you can discover and use that part, then you will pass, if not, I'll just shunshin out of the village until the day is over, and since you can't leave the village..." Kakashi's shadow clone gave an eye smile as the implications sat in. Sasuke and Sakura nodded towards each other as they ran at Kakashi, always just slightly too slow to catch his clone.

* * *

"HEY!" Naruto once again yelled as he ran through the grassy training field. Kakashi shrugged as he turned around before seeming to sink into the ground. "W-What!?" Naruto said as he looked around in frustration.

Kurama blinked sleepily as he looked around, noting that they were in a training field of some sort, a pond was somewhat hidden around the multiple trees that surrounded them. He yawned shortly after, _**"Do I even want to ask?" **_Kurama yawned on out as Naruto scoffed aloud, irritated at the situation.

"Kakashi-sensei ran away again! If I don't find him by the end of the day, I won't be a Genin!" Naruto said with a tinge of fear in his voice that Kurama picked up on. He was nervous, his whole life he wanted to be a Ninja, and this was the only way to be able to learn more about his family, Honoke-tousan, his Clan even, but to have all that lost based on a runaway sensei!? Kurama smirked at the determination rushing through Naruto as he looked around.

_**"He's still here. It seems like he's waiting on something, and he's also over there by your friends." **_Kurama pointed out as Naruto turned around to see Sakura and Sasuke running towards him.

"Hey! Did you have any luck?" Naruto asked as Sakura looked at him with rage in her eyes, causing him to take a nervous step back.

"NARUTO! WHY DID YOU LEAVE US LIKE THAT!?" She screamed, rushing up to punch him as Naruto dodged with a quick duck.

"S-Sakura-chan!" Naruto stuttered out in fear, struggling to not get hit.

"WHAT!?" She screamed as Naruto pointed behind her, causing her to turn around as Sasuke's glare caused them both to gulp.

"Why are you two acting like this? We're all at risk of not becoming Genin, and I'm not failing because of you two." Sasuke explained with a huff.

"What do you mean by that!?" Naruto yelled on back, but Kurama coughed pointedly afterwards. "What is it Kurama?" Naruto asked before Sasuke was about to answer again. The three stared as Kurama rolled his eyes from within Naruto.

**"Well, think about it this way. He's waiting on you three to get something. Look at him." **Kurama said, casually motioning to a still watching Kakashi, who waved back as he read his Ichi Ichi book. **"How about instead of panicking like chickens who lost their heads, you think like actual Ninja?" **Kurama suggested with a casual shrug at the harsh looks sent his way.

"We are!" Sakura hastily replied as Kurama scoffed.

**"Are you? You nearly assaulted your teammate just now, is that really what a ninja would do to their teammate?" **Kurama said, noting Kakashi's gaze with a smirk. Kakashi rolled his eye at Kurama's hint but instead shifted his gaze towards Sakura.

"T-This isn't about that!" Sakura stuttered out, hiding an embarrassed blush upon her face as Sasuke's eyes lit up.

"Teammate? Team...I think I know what Shikamaru was trying to tell me now. It was teamwork, wasn't it?" Sasuke looked towards the crimson-blue eyes of Naruto, who merely grinned foxily towards Kakashi.

**"He got it in one, huh? Now what are you going to do Cyclops?" **Kurama's grin only grew as Kakashi jumped on down from his tree branch with a huff.

"To think I thought I could read..." Kakashi sighed as he shut his book. "You're right Sasuke, the purpose of this test was to test your teamwork...but you're not done just yet. Just knowing what is being tested means nothing in the end, you have to prove you can do it." Kakashi gave an eye smile. "So let me change your test a bit." Kakashi said as he pulled out two bells. "Your test is to take these bells from me by Sundown, and given where the sun is, that should give you about...three hours or so?"

"WHAT!?" Naruto and Sakura screeched in union as Sasuke and Kurama groaned out in pain. "How are we supposed to do that!? You're a Jonin!" Naruto continued on, pointing to him in horror at the thought. Kakashi merely gave another eye smile.

"So? You killed a Chunin. A Jonin holding back shouldn't be all that bad against you in that case, huh Naruto?" Kakashi's words cut deep as Kurama growled out in warning. Kakashi merely looked towards Sasuke and Sakura. "If the four of you can't get the bells from me, then you will never be Genin as long as I'm alive. Happy hunting!" He said as he jumped away into the treeline. Sakura and Sasuke both looked towards him before going back to Naruto, noting the tiny shiver that rushed along him.

"Naruto..." Sakura said aloud, worry all along her tone as she growled out in anger at what Kakashi said.

"Naruto, snap out of it." Sasuke said coldly towards his friend as both Sakura and Naruto glared at him. "He's trying to rile you up, don't fall for it. So what if you killed Mizuki, every Ninja kills at some point. It's part of the job and as Iruka said, we can't let that hold us back." Sasuke explained as Naruto looked downwards, knowing that his friend was right. "Look, I'm not expecting you to get over it, killing is killing no matter how we justify it. What I'm asking you to do is to push that feeling down and focus. Kakashi is out there, and the only way we're getting those bells is by teaming up. Do you trust me?" Sasuke asked, staring at the two's downward faces.

A long silence fell along the trio as Naruto's red-tinted sapphire eyes came into view once again. "I trust you...we trust you Sasuke." Naruto said calmly, eyes shining as he looked towards the two, who smiled back.

"Yeah, let's do this thing!" Sakura spoke up next as Sasuke nodded.

"Good, now here's the plan..."

* * *

_Wonder what's taking them so long? Did they give up? Hmm...maybe I should have taken it a tiny bit easier on Naruto..._ Kakashi sighed as he brought out his Ichi Ichi book back out. _Nah, if he gave up just from that, it would kill him in the field. It may be harsh, but it's for his own good._ Kakashi decided as he looked to his right. "Yo." He said as Choza's head popped out of the leaves.

"Should have figured you would have done that." Choza rolled his eyes as he sat on his tree branch. "Was...a harsh method, but it was needed on him, he needs to learn to deal with that at some point, better now than in front of an opposing shinobi." Choza sighed aloud, not hiding his fatherly hurt at the method Kakashi took.

"What else could I do there? Kurama's a wild card, and they already found out the meaning of the test because of him. But even with that, I don't know if they truly can work as a team. Four people in one team is already a hard time, but three in one team with the fourth being a Tailed Beast? Even with the other villages, only some of the Tailed Beasts actually talked through their host, fewer still were able to combine like they do!" Kakashi said, the stress from the previous weeks laying down on him.

Choza sighed as he took it all in. "I know Kakashi, and trust me, I feel the same way, but ask yourself...Is that the real reason you're scared? Or is it that you still blame yourself for what happened to Naruto when it came to Honoke and Mizuki?" Choza asked, noting the very minute flinch that came from Kakashi.

The two sat in silence on the tree branches before leaves showered Choza back into the shadows to watch over the test. Kakashi's hand trembled as he put his book away, knowing he wasn't going to be able to read.

* * *

Sasuke walked alone out of the treeline, staring Kakashi down with a smirk upon his face with a kunai in his hand.

He threw the kunai towards his sensei as Kakashi merely batted it away as it exploded towards his left. Two more flew passed and exploded before Kakashi jumped off his branch when Sakura came from behind with a punch ready for him. Both started making their hand signs as kunai flew by their hands to stop them in their tracks before reaching the ground.

The one that landed by Sasuke exploded as he gritted his teeth, covering his eyes from the sand that rushed up from the explosion, only to see neither Sakura nor Kakashi. Kakashi appeared behind him as Naruto rushed up behind him with three kunai in his hand aimed at his head. Kakashi smirked as Sakura approached from the side with her own kunai in her hand. Sasuke gulped as he got his own kunai out, knowing it would be child's play for Kakashi to kill them all where they stood.

The thought rushed through all four of them, even Kurama couldn't deny that Naruto was nowhere near the skill needed to fight Kakashi, but they had to. They needed to win, if just for the sake of getting through today. Their eyes burrowed with the determination as Kakashi began to talk.

"Within the Academy, you learned three different categories of Jutsu that make up the Academy Three, as well as a few other types like the one we just did. So let's do this right, shall we?" Kakashi said as he ducked, and rotated Sasuke behind with his right hand, throwing him into Sakura, before kicking Naruto aside the face with a single motion. "Taijutsu." He said simply as he gave a punch to Naruto's gut before grabbing him with the punch and throwing him towards an approaching Sakura.

Kakashi smirk stayed on as he loosened up, it was a simple maneuver to get out of a three-way lock, but these kids had potential, they radiated in it. Not many soon-to-be Genin...no that's not quite right. Not a single Genin, and only ever some Chunnin ninjas were able to get him into a three-way lock, even if he forced himself to slow down enough for the Genin trainees to catch up to him. He couldn't hold back some pride of the fact that they would be _his_ to train.

The three Genin groaned as they got off of the dog-pile they were in and looked towards him, anger on their faces. Naruto looked towards Sasuke, who nodded as Sakura moved in front of them in a defensive stance. "I hope you two know what you're doing!" She yelled towards them as she brought out two ball-like objects from her ninja kit bag before throwing them at Kakashi. They exploded violently towards him, creating a smokescreen like effect that Sakura hoped would buy them enough time.

The pair started going through hand signs as Kakashi smirked from the other side of the wall of smoke. "The second type, Genjutsu." He said as the smoke seemed to twist and blur, only to lead Sakura to make the mistake of staring at his glowing crimson eye through the smoke.

Time seemed to blur around Sakura as she blinked, looking in confusion as she saw no one there, before seeing Kakashi in the distance, almost making the mistake of running towards him as her brain screamed at her. _Genjutsu! _She thought as the layers of the world seemed to peel back, revealing darkness in its wake. Putting her hands to make the tiger hand seal, she screamed, "KAI!" Looking around, she noticed that no one was nearby. Gritting her teeth in frustration, she ran to find what happened to her teammates.

Meanwhile, Naruto and Sasuke both got to the end of their hand-signs when Kakashi rushed at them. "Wind style, Air bullet Jutsu!" "Fire style, Fireball Jutsu!" The two yelled in union as the Fireball jutsu burst to life with the help of the Air bullet jutsu, seeming to rotate rapidly towards Kakashi.

"And the last of the Academy Three Jutsu, Ninjutsu." He said as he rapidly went through his own jutsu hand seals, so fast that it was nearly impossible to keep up with, "Water Style, Raging Rapids Jutsu!" A torrent of water rushed from Kakashi's mouth towards them, but not before the powered-up Fireball Jutsu left a mark on Kakashi as it sputtered out slightly behind him, loosening the bell string just enough that they fell off.

Kakashi looked in surprise as Sakura cheered from behind him, bells in hand.

"We did it!" She cheered as she looked to Kakashi. Kakashi's surprise warmed into an eye smile.

"Congratulations, you three passed my test, you are now Genin." Kakashi said as Naruto and Sasuke walked on over, soaked to the brim, but happy at the news.

"Nice job Sakura!" Naruto yelled with a grin. "I knew the plan was going to work!" Naruto said as Sasuke scoffed with a look on his face.

"What plan!? You just wanted us to blast him with our most powerful Jutsu and hope it would stop him!" Sasuke called him out as Naruto spluttered out gibberish, unable to make an accurate response to him.

The team laughed as Naruto desperately tried to regain his pride to no avail.

* * *

The four, five if you included a bemused Kurama, were in a cheery mood as they went to celebrate with some Ichiraku Ramen at Naruto's request.

"So Sensei, what are you going to teach us this time?" Naruto asked, excited for what tomorrow would bring as the sun went down, and night rose up. The town was painted from the lamps that decorated the village and the bright moon in the sky, with stars circling round.

"Hmm, well I know you and Sasuke got Tree Walking somewhat down, we may build on that a bit more tomorrow to see where you're at with it. But I've yet to train Sakura over here, so I'll mainly be using tomorrow to get to know where she's at. I'm not really experienced when it comes to Medical Ninjas, but I think I can give some tips on it and help you here and there. On top of that, I was going to take you to the Academy Library tomorrow with the other teams to get your Genin Licenses and the next level of your Taijutsu styles, seeing as you three have mastered your Academy leveled ones." Kakashi said after a few moments of thinking. "Honestly tomorrow is going to be just getting a baseline of where you three stand when it comes to your skills." Kakashi explained as the three nodded and continued eating. The three nodded with smiles on their faces, Sasuke's being faint while Naruto proudly wore his grin with Sakura's being a small smile not much bigger than Sasuke's. Kakashi couldn't help but smile as well, proud of the progress they were giving.

_Is this why you always spoke highly of us Minato-sensei? Because you felt that sense of pride within you? _Kakashi thought to himself, watching the three eat blissfully and try to see him eating, though he hid it purposely from them in an art of teasing. _Cause I think I understand that now. Naruto's really growing up, and is picking up what you started in reference to the Nine Tails, or Kurama as he's known by Naruto. I wish you two could see him now..._ Kakashi's smile faded a bit as Mizuki flashed in his mind.

"Well we better be heading off now." Kakashi heard himself say to Ayame as he got up.

"Huh? But I'm not done yet!" Naruto whined as Sakura quickly shut him up.

"Well, we're going to be going on over pretty early, so meet me at Training field 7 by noon." Kakashi said calmly, hiding his inner turmoil as well as he could. Naruto sighed as the group wished his good night before heading on their way, Sasuke following Naruto to the Nara household. Ayame tried to stop him, but Kakashi quickly Shunshin'd away to the solitude of his apartment. The night moon illuminated the sorry state of his little apartment as Kakashi sighed as he took off his gear before starting a shower.

Silence washed over the apartment as Kakashi took his shower, changed clothes, and sat on his bed. The sole window of the room cleanly showed the moonlight into the room as Kakashi picked up an old picture in a frame.

"I miss you Sensei...I don't know if I'll ever live up to your teaching..." Kakashi said aloud softly as he opened up the drawer and put the picture in. "But at the same time...I know I have to move on, your son needs me, the whole team does. Thank you Minato-sensei." Kakashi let out a small smile as he laid his head down on his bed before falling asleep.

* * *

"Where is he!?" Naruto said impatiently as Kurama snored within him. Sakura would have chuckled if she wasn't also angry.

It was going on two o' clock and Kakashi still wasn't anywhere to be seen. Naruto and Sasuke had walked on over at about Eleven, while Sakura waited till eleven thirty. They all been waiting for over two hours in Training Field Seven, which had turned out to be the place that Kakashi had lured them to the day before, and were all sick of it.

Sasuke sighed as he looked towards Naruto. "Now what? He usually isn't this late." Sasuke said as Naruto shrugged.

"How about we practice? You can show me that Tree-walking thing that Kakashi was talking about earlier." Sakura suggested as the two looked at each other before nodding.

"Sure, not much else to do anyways." Sasuke shrugged as Naruto grinned.

"Okay Sakura-chan, let's do this!" He said as the three walked over to a trio of trees as Sasuke tossed her a Kunai, which she nearly dropped from surprise before finally securing it within her hands.

"What's this for?" She asked as Sasuke and Naruto smirked at each other before the two took out their respective kunai and started running on the trees.

Neither reached the top, but Sasuke went about one foot stride farther than Naruto, much to his annoyance.

"Cmon Dobe, you have to be better than that." Sasuke taunted with a smirked grin on his face.

"Grr...Just you wait Teme!" Naruto yelled back as he once again began running up the tree, managing to pass him by a foot stride this time. He grinned as he rubbed his nose when he touched the ground. "Take that Teme, I'm better!" He taunted right on back as Sasuke huffed.

"In your dreams Dobe!" He said as the two kept going back and forth. Sakura just stood there mesmerized at the sight of the two beating each other up the giant trees over and over, and taunting all the while. Yet, at the end, realized one key thing.

"They still haven't taught me how to do this." She said aloud, slightly frustrated at her lack of knowledge. She sighed as she looked towards the tree. "Hmm...so the goal is to climb up the trees only using your feet, so I guess I have to match the chakra of the tree with my feet..." She said, watching Sasuke's form carefully, noting him slowing his ascent up in order for her to better see. Blue auras radiated from their feet as Sakura started focusing Chakra at her feet before slowly putting her feet on the tree.

She took her other foot off the ground and...immediately slipped off with a thud. "Ow." She groaned lightly as she tried it again, using a bit more Chakra this time as she once again slipped off. Even more Chakra, and by her twelfth time, she had gotten it down.

"Nice job Sakura-chan!" Naruto congratulated from his tree branch as Sasuke merely smirked.

"You got it faster than the Dobe, good job." Sasuke said simply.

"HEY!" Naruto shouted, "I remember that you took even longer!" Naruto countered on back as Sasuke simply looked away with a hmph.

Sakura couldn't help giggling at the sight of the feud between them. She could hardly remember the last time the three acted like this, but it had been happening a lot more since they grouped up. If Sakura had to guess, it was because of their joy that they couldn't help themselves.

"Sakura!" Sakura heard Sasuke yell before realizing she was in his arms with a blush. "Watch yourself next time, you fell off the tree." Sasuke explained before helping her to her feet, then proceeded to go back to racing Naruto. Sakura sighed as she realized.

"Thanks Sasuke-kun." She told him, getting a minute nod in reply.

* * *

Kakashi smirked as he watched his students from afar within the treeline. He knew that the three were somewhat close, but he wasn't expecting them to be this close. Sakura was known for punching Naruto, but seemed to be thankful for his upbeat attitude and congratulations. On top of that, Naruto and Sasuke didn't seem much in the way of close on first appearances, but their rivalry seemed more on mutual respect for one another than it was of anger or jealously. On top of that, while Sakura wasn't under the influence of the Genjutsu, it was more than clear enough that she was starting to gain feelings for the young Uchiha.

Kakashi looked calmly to his left as Asuma hopped silently onto an adjacent branch. Scoffing at his inhuman sense, Asuma stared at Team 7 for but a moment before looking towards Kakashi once more.

"Aren't you going to tell them that you arrived more than an hour ago?" A bemused Asuma asked as Kakashi shrugged.

"Who knows? So, your team all ready?" Kakashi asked as Asuma nodded.

"Yeah, and I contacted Anko, and her team is all set as well. We're kinda just waiting on you." Asuma explained as Kakashi nodded.

"Making sure, okay I'll meet you guys there." Kakashi explained before jumping down to the ground, before casually walking towards the team.

Asuma snorted as he watched, and heard, Kakashi get berated by his students for being so late.

* * *

"WHERE WERE YOU!?" Naruto and Sakura shrieked in union as soon as Kakashi showed up.

"Sorry about being so late, I was helping an old lady cross the street and walk on home. She lived pretty far so it took a while." Kakashi lied out of his teeth effortless as the three glared at him.

"YOU'RE LYING!" Naruto shouted with a defiant point of his finger.

"Am I?" Kakashi asked as Sasuke rolled his eyes. Naruto looked somewhat confused but Sakura merely scoffed in disbelief.

"Of course you are!" Sakura said firmly, but Sasuke merely waved his hand.

"It doesn't really matter if he is or not." Sasuke told them, "What matters is that he's here." Sasuke continued on as Naruto looked like he suddenly remembered something.

"Oh yeah! We gotta meet up with Shikamaru and the others!" Naruto exclaimed excitedly as Sakura blinked, her mind trying to catch up.

"Yeah, we were heading to the Academy Library to pick up our Genin Jutsu and Jutsu styles." Sasuke explained with a look of annoyance, "Did you both forget that?" Sasuke asked out of exasperation as he watched his teammates both freeze up. A groan sounded out from him before he simply dropped it and started walking towards the exit of the Training Field.

"And where are you going?" Kakashi stared from the corner of his eye as Sasuke scoffed.

"To the Academy Library, we're all heading there anyways." Sasuke explained as Kakashi shrugged.

"We might, or...we might be training." Kakashi said as he Shunshin'd in front of him.

Sasuke just looked unimpressed, "It's already been an hour since you told us to meet you here by, that means that the other teams are currently waiting on us to arrive, and I rather not keep them busy since someone forgot to wake up in time." Sasuke explained as Naruto seemed to sweat profusely. "And no, I'm not referring to the Dobe this time." Naruto nearly sighed in relief before noticing the nickname.

"HEY WHAT WAS THAT TEME!?" Naruto yelled back as Sasuke sighed with a smirk on his face.

"I don't know Dobe, you tell me." Sasuke snarked back as Sakura giggled at the two's fighting. Kakashi smiled a bit as the four walked on over to the Academy Library.

* * *

"Man I can't believe that guy! Sasuke seriously gets on my nerves sometimes Sakura, what do you even see in him!?" Naruto ranted as the two hung back. Sakura rolled her eyes.

"Well, for one, he's mature and levelheaded, and knows what's important." Sakura listed.

"What!? I'm mature and levelheaded!" Naruto vainly tried to protest as Sakura gave him a disbelieving stare. "Okay, fair point, but still!" Naruto relented with a sigh. "I just don't get it when he keeps calling me a Dobe like that." Naruto sighed as Sakura made a hmm noise.

"Maybe it's his kinda...title for you? You two fight a lot, but you never really say it out of hatred. I mean, you call him Teme and he calls you Dobe." Sakura tried her best to explain.

"I guess..." Naruto shrugged, not entirely understanding it either. Sasuke rolled his eyes from in front of the two.

Entering the building, Team 7 saw the other two teams before them.

"Geez what took you guys so long?" Shikamaru groaned on out, annoyed by how long they had been forced to wait. Team 10 were sitting on the waiting room couch watching Shikamaru easily beating Asuma. Asuma barely even reacted as he struggled to not lose, before immediately losing.

Naruto and Sakura's glares could have burned the building as they looked towards Kakashi, though he looked like he didn't even notice them. "WELL IF SOMEONE WOULD HAVE CAME EARLIER-" Naruto started loudly before Sasuke put his arm around Naruto's shoulder threateningly.

Naruto didn't say anything more for his safety as the room fell silent.

"Wow, when did Sasuke get that power?" Ino whispered towards Choji.

"After Sasuke found out about Naruto's secret." Choji whispered back casually.

"Wait, Naruto's secret?" Ino whispered back curious.

"Yeah, Naruto is deeply in-" Choji tried to say as he slowly turned to see Naruto having a death glare aimed right at him. "AHHHAHAHAHAHA" Choji suddenly burst out into panicked laughter, "WHAT A GREAT JOKE INO!" He continued on as Naruto hmph'd before looking away.

"Pffffff." Ino snorted in laughter.

"Watch it, or I'll tell him one of your secrets!" Choji said as she stared at him blankly.

"Like?" Ino asked as Choji grinned, before whispering in her ear.

Her face went white in embarrassment as she scooted away from fear, while Choji kept a satisfied grin on his face. _YES! Shikamaru's lessons are really paying off, I can't believe that actually worked! Then again I was guessing...wow, can't believe she actually does that to her pillows...gross._ He thought to himself, shivering at the newfound information.

Shikamaru on the other hand merely rolled his eyes at the knowledge he had overheard. "Troublesome..." He muttered aloud.

"So he's finally here, knew I was right to have us go for lunch." Anko sighed aloud, having been eating with the rest of her team across the room from Asuma's team.

"Hey it's Naruto! Finally made it huh? Took you long enough you slowpoke!" Kiba grinned as Naruto merely groaned.

"Next time, we're just going to ditch Kakashi-sensei and let him be the last one here." Naruto stated so blandly that everyone laughed in someway, be it with a smirk, full on laughter, or a smile, all except Kakashi himself that was.

"Oh?" Kakashi asked as he hovered overhead.

Naruto was less than impressed as he merely looked back. "Kakashi-sensei, maybe if you were on time we wouldn't have to do this." Naruto stated again just as blandly as before.

"You tell him Naruto!" Sakura cheered him on as Sasuke merely groaned.

"I mean if you want me to tell them you're not Genin, I'll be on my way..." Kakashi sighed on out as he proceeded to start walking away.

"W-Wait!" Naruto and Sakura exclaimed out of fear of being kicked out.

"Troublesome, now can we go get our jutsus?" Shikamaru asked with a groan, drowning out the conversation, more like one-sided begging, unfolding.

"Yeah, yeah." Asuma said, getting up as he sighed over the 15th loss since they started playing. "Okay, listen up everyone!" Asuma started, catching the attention of the three sets of Genin. "Since Kakashi delayed us again, we only have about one hour before lunch time. Meaning, that I want everyone to grab their Genin training style, and their two Jutsus they want to start training. Now remember, don't just go based on your Nature, branch out and find jutsus to compliment that Chakra Nature of yours, so I want everyone to find one Jutsu of their Nature, and one of the Nature that beats it. Understood? Now go!" Asuma explained as the three teams of Genin ran off to find their Jutsus.

Asuma sighed in relief, "Good god Kakashi, could you stand to be any more late?" He asked when the three teams ran off. Kakashi merely shrugged.

"We're here now, that's all that matters Asuma-san." Kakashi stated simply.

Anko scoffed, "Yeah only about three hours late yet again. Good thing I wasn't an idiot like this one and only came in about ten minutes ago." Anko waved off, eating a dango treat at the same time.

"Well excuse me if I thought he would be on time...that and Shikamaru basically forced me." Asuma admitted sheepily.

The two had a lot they wanted to reply for that, but Shikamaru came up with a light smirk on his face.

"Done." He stated simply, put the three Jutsu scrolls in a storage seal before plopping back on the couch and falling asleep. "Wake me when they're done." He stated before falling asleep.

"See what I mean?" Asuma whispered. Anko merely rolled her eyes.

"Classic Asuma..." Anko muttered out.

* * *

"Dobe, catch." Sasuke said as he threw Naruto a scroll with a smirk. "Now we're even." He said as Naruto noticed it was the Shadow Step Style that he was learning.

"Yeah, yeah, Teme, keep dreaming!" Naruto grinned on back, appreciative all the same, "Here!" He said, tossing over a scroll of his own. "That old man told us to get a Jutsu of the Nature that beats us, so Hinata wanted me to give you this Water Style technique. She figured that you and Sakura could learn from it, and see what happens. That and even without really knowing Medical Ninjutsu, a user can use it as a base painkiller in a fight!" Naruto explained, watching as Sakura and Hinata were chatting about something, handing Jutsus to each other and helping out.

"Hmph, then here." Sasuke tossed another scroll on over, "You can't use the Fireball Jutsu, but this could help with throwing an enemy off guard." Sasuke explained.

"Thanks!" Naruto said with another wide grin as he grabbed his Wind Jutsu scroll.

* * *

"S-Sakura-chan!" Hinata stuttered out as Sakura walked up to her.

"Oh, Hinata! You doing okay with finding everything?" Sakura asked as Hinata nodded, "Are you training to be a Medic as well?" Sakura asked as Hinata looked at her.

"A M-Medic?" Hinata asked, poking her pointer fingers together. "W-Well I.." Hinata stuttered out, unsure of what to say.

"Basically Medical Shinobi are the people that heal everyone, but aren't really part of the overall fighting, only doing enough to keep themselves safe. I figure, since Naruto is going to be an idiot getting hurt all the time, and Sasuke is probably just as stubborn as him, they need someone to back them up and keep them safe. I...I'm not as strong as them, when I saw Naruto..." Sakura's words broke off, but the meaning rang clear to Hinata.

The scene still flashed in her eyes, seeing the pure hatred and sorrow radiating from Naruto's face as Mizuki laughed. Shivers went down both of their spines at the mere thought of it.

"I...I don't want him to be hurt like that again. All of that happened because of his landlord dying, all of it. If someone was able to save him, we never would have seen Naruto get like that." Sakura admitted to Hinata before continuing on, "On top of that, Sasuke's been acting a lot more...distant lately after the death of his clan. It hasn't been that long so maybe he's still dealing with the guilt of his clan..." Sakura rambled, her eyes threatening to tear up from the stress.

Hinata for once, walked up to her and slapped her with a serious expression on her face, "Get it together Sakura-chan!" She cried out, "I know you're worried for N-Naruto-kun and Sasuke-kun but they're strong. And you being there helps make them that strong. You keep Naruto-kun in check and help Sasuke-kun through his tough times. I-I appreciate that about you S-Sakura-chan, you're brave and strong and even when people are against you, you always say exactly what you mean. So, stay strong Sakura-chan, I know that you'll be an amazing Medic Ninja." Hinata explained with a smile on her face.

Sakura nodded as she started wiping the tears away, noticing Naruto watching them as she looked towards Hinata. "Hey so...are you training to be a Medic?" Sakura asked again as Hinata hesitated a bit before nodding.

"I-I-I also don't want to see Naruto-kun hurt. I don't think I'll be completely a medic, b-but if knowing a few Medical Jutsus can help me protect my friends, I'll do it." She said before shyly handing a Jutsu scroll on over. "H-Here Sakura-chan. Y-You tend to have a lot of physical strength, so this should be able to enhance it for a good clean burst of air. M-Maybe you can use this to divert or block an attack?" Hinata explained as Sakura handed Hinata a copy of the same jutsu that Naruto tossed to Sasuke.

"Then take this Hinata, I may have given Naruto this to give to Sasuke and said it was from you, but this is a good technique in battle. It's the most basic form of Medical Ninjutsu and even without deep understanding of the body, it can be used as a basic painkiller in a battle, that or it can be used to repair small wounds like bruising. But the better you get with Medical Ninjutsu, the more effective the skill is. I don't know how far you're willing to go with Medical Ninjutsu, but this will help you on whatever you decide to do. We still need to find some Lightning Jutsu though." Sakura grinned as Hinata shyly smiled.

"Y-Yeah. I-I might have an idea of what to get you, b-but I wasn't sure of your nature." Hinata explained as Sakura shrugged.

"I'm a Water Nature with a small affinity to Earth. So, you actually gave me one of the jutsus I needed. I figure that I'm not really in need of more Water Jutsus at the moment, and I think Kakashi-sensei can help me with finding some." Sakura explained, "What about you?"

"O-Oh uh...I'm just a pure Water Nature." Hinata blushed a bit out of embarrassment as she explained. Sakura smiled it off.

"Cool! Naruto's a pure Wind and Sasuke's a pure Fire, so you're not alone." Sakura explained, "So what do you have in mind?" Sakura asked as Hinata smiled a bit.

"W-Well..."

* * *

"Guess Ino is still avoiding me, huh Shino?" Choji said to Shino as they explored the Clan jutsu rows of the Library. Shino simply nodded from the other row where he was checking out some techniques of Fire that would work well with his bugs, but hadn't yet found one, while Choji was looking for both a Fire and Water Jutsu for his. "Would this work for yah?" Choji asked, as Shino shook his head. "Hmm...maybe you can add a firefly to your collection? Be able to use it as a light in a dark area. It's based on a light Fire Jutsu..." Choji looked around the shelves but couldn't find a single sign of the type of jutsu from his row of allowed Jutsus.

Within the Library off to the right side held the Clan Library Jutsus, where important jutsu techniques are kept for those growing, nothing that would destroy a clan of course, but ones that were made famous by those clans. However because of this, the shelves were a lot smaller and limited based on the clan. Shino's clan, the Aburame, had their techniques right next to the Akimichi because it was based in name order for this reason.

"Hmm..." Shino sounded as he looked over his scrolls before heading a scroll towards Choji. "Do you think this could work?" Shino asked as Choji looked it over before nodding.

"Yeah, this could work! You could use your bugs to light up rooms while exploring to avoid traps and the like! Or-or, you could use them as a distraction to lure enemies into a trap! Heck, you can even use it to blind people!" Choji grinned as he explained while Shino simply nodded and stored the Jutsu.

"What are you looking for?" Shino asked.

"Oh, uh...I'm a Fire Nature, but I can't really find any Water Jutsu here." Choji explained as Shino walked over to his row. "W-wait! Aren't you-" Choji tried to stop Shino as he just continued on, looking at scrolls until he handed one over to him.

"It's a Water Jutsu." Shino stated simply, "Why did I walk over there? Because you missed it about seven times while walking back and forth because it was hidden behind two other scrolls." Shino explained as Choji blinked.

"Huh, you're right, thanks Shino. Sorry about doubting you like that." Choji apologized as Shino nodded, grabbed his two scrolls and put them in his coat pocket, which contained his storage seal. Choji continued looking a bit before grinning and grabbing another scroll before following alongside Shino.

* * *

"Hmm, your move." Kakashi said as he moved his piece.

"Checkmate." Asuma grinned as his knight put Kakashi's into checkmate.

Kakashi simply shrugged, "Oh, guess they're back." Kakashi said before waking a sleeping (and snoring, much to the Librarian's displeasure) Anko up, before sending a nod towards said librarian.

"Huh? Oh the brats are back." Anko said as everyone met up. "So, what Jutsus did you grab, let's start with my team first."

Kiba snorted, "While they were off playing with each other, I grabbed the Genin version of my Taijutsu style, grabbed the scroll for Fang over Fang, as well as grabbed a Wind jutsu to counter my Earth Chakra Nature."

"W-Well, I didn't need to grab the scroll for the Genin style, my father has been tea-teaching me lately and told me not to grab it. So I-I j-just grabbed a healing Menjutsu called Water Style: Healing Waves, as well as getting Futon: Wind Shuriken. I-I figured that if we could augment our regular weapons, such as Shuriken, t-then maybe we could duplicate them l-like Shadow clones..." Hinata blushed a bit as she explained, expecting Anko to be mad that she didn't get the Genin style scroll, but instead Anko nodded.

"Good thinking Hinata! Hey, can you help me learn something like that? I think that with my Shadow Clones, that maybe I can use something like that to add with my style!" Naruto asked with a huge grin on his face. Hinata blushed harder, nearly turning red, as she nodded.

"That was some good thinking, we were going to wait on Multi-tool Jutsu techniques until next time, but it's good for you to show initiative. Jutsu that allow you to turn your Chakra into natured-style weapons are highly valued, but very hard to learn as a result. If they're done sloppily they won't do anything, but if you try to hard to make them perfect, you won't be able to make nearly enough to make it worth the Chakra used. We'll come together as teams in order to teach you that since all of you will be needing to learn it." Asuma explained with a smile.

"Whatever happened to us being the Jonin-senseis of our own teams? I didn't think this was School Field trip day..." Anko sarcastically remarked with a roll of her eyes. "But good job Pale-eyes, you managed to jump the ship, but don't make that get to your head, you may have that but it'll be a while before it's useful, so go grab another Futon scroll real quick and we'll get going." Anko said, turning to leave before Naruto's eye twitched.

"HEY!" He yelled, catching the ire of Anko. "Aren't you forgetting someone!?" He continued on none the wiser before Anko blinked.

"OH! I need to go get more Dangos, you're right." Anko grinned sarcastically, "Yeah, yeah, you're right kid. Shino, what did you get?" She relented.

"..." The silence coming from Shino was deafening as he walked in front and pulled three scrolls out, just letting her look for herself. Annoyed, she picked up the scrolls.

"Stubborn little brats..." She muttered as she looked, "Hmm...so the Genin version of your Taijutsu style, built around using your bugs to attack the enemies...Maybe we can have you learn from Pale-eyes to add a bit more variety to your styles..." She threw the scroll back at him and took a look at the other two. "So, judging from these, you're an Fire Nature and got Katon: Firefly Lighter and Earth Style: Mud Wall...So you're going for a more Recon moveset, that could be great, but you also need ways to protect yourself in the while. I recommend grabbing an offensive Earth Style to learn just so you're not deadweight on the field, but for now this is good." Anko explained before nodding and throwing the scrolls back at him.

"Okay, now you three." Kakashi begun before Anko could say anything more. She merely scoffed.

"Naruto and I grabbed our Genin versions of our style. It seems that both of them are pairs of the other, so we'll be working together since it seems we both have the same Chunnin battle style, just with the addition of our Genin forms. On top of that, I grabbed Katon: Flame Trap and Water Style: Healing Waves. I got the recommendation from Naruto, who got it from Hinata." Sasuke explained with a nod. Naruto grinned a bit as he put his hand around his friend.

"Haha! Yeah, and I got Katon: Flame Riser Shuriken from him as well as a combination skill in Shadow Clone Futon: Multi-Air Bullet Barrage! I figured since I mastered the Air Bullet Jutsu by now, that I can try combining it with my Shadow Clone jutsu, and turns out that there was a scroll about it, and how to use it even more effectively then I was thinking!" Naruto explained, clearly excited to try it out. Sasuke raised an eyebrow.

"How were you even going about it?" Sasuke asked as Naruto let go with a skittish grin.

"Well, I was using my shadow clones, then making the signs for the Air Bullet jutsu, then just firing from there. The problem with that was how slow it was, since I had to do a lot of hand-signs and it takes a while to get through it. But this scrolls shows that I can simply combine the signs, taking away a Dog sign to link the two together with a Pig sign, and then it will have me appear wherever I want via the Shadow Sneak Style and just let out a huge barrage of Air bullets at the enemy!" Naruto explained with a huge grin. "However, it seems to take a lot of Chakra, and Kurama warned me that I would need a practice partner to train it, since I won't be able to control where all my clones will go when the technique starts. It's great for surprise attacks, as the Shadow Sneak Style is meant to be about, but if they can tell where I'm going, then I'll be in a terrible position." Naruto continued on, not-so-subtly looking at Sasuke, who smirked.

"Sounds interesting, and seeing as we're going to be practicing for our styles, we might as well work together about it. The Fire Dragon style is about demanding attention from the enemy, and not giving them a single moment to look away or think, so I think that allows me to keep their attention and lead them into a position where you can fire, before ducking into the shadows and switching our styles up with one another. Maybe that's why our styles combine in the Chunnin level?" Sasuke asked as Kakashi couldn't help but smile under his mask.

"Hmm, tell you two what. If you can master that level of style on both sides, as well as that way of attacking an opponent, I'll ask them if I can grab that style for you two since you already understand the reason behind them." Kakashi explained.

"Hell yeah! Let's do this Sasuke!" Naruto grinned and grabbed Sasuke to start practicing.

"H-Hey!" Sasuke panicked out as he was dragged away to begin training.

Sakura growled a bit before Kakashi looked at her. "And what about you?" He asked as she sighed.

"I...I'm still struggling with finding a Taijutsu style for myself, as I wasn't really able to find one as a Academy student unlike those two, but I picked up a few books about Mendjutsu, as well as getting Water Style: Healing Waves, Lightning Style: Augment Mind, and Water Style: Water Wall." Sakura admitted. Before Kakashi could answer, Anko stepped in.

"Hmm, why not use a Mendjutsu Taijutsu style? I have a few friends that could help you find a style like that, and while Kakashi doesn't really interact with them, we're all the Village has this year so we were instructed to help out where we can." Anko explained with her question as Sakura looked up with Naruto's level of giddiness.

Kakashi would never admit that he was terrified at that look in her eye.

Anko would if drunk enough.

"Really!? Let's go right now!" She grinned as the two motioned her to wait. Pouting, she just went to read some of her Mendjutsu _**(A.N. I'm tired of Medical Ninjutsu, so I'm simply just calling it Medjutsu or Mendjutsu, leave a review on which one you prefer!)** _while Kakashi rolled his eyes.

"Asuma, you going to ask them about their Jutsu choices?" Anko asked as Asuma thought about it before shaking his head.

"Nah, they know what they're going to go for, and Shikamaru is already on his way to becoming a squad leader. I'm mostly here to make sure he doesn't fall- HEY WAKE UP!" Asuma explained before waking a sleeping Shikamaru from the couch, "As I was saying, I'm just here to make sure he doesn't fall asleep, while giving tips here and there for when they get stuck. I'm a teacher to them, not their baby scooter." Asuma explained as Kakashi and Anko deadpanned.

"How much do you want to bet it was because Shikamaru beat Asuma?" Anko whispered.

"I'll bet 20,000 on it, you?" Kakashi answered.

"10, I don't get my paycheck 'till next week..." Anko answered as Asuma pouted.

They both smirked when Shikamaru nodded their way. "He thought he could beat me in Shogi after a training match, he lost all three sets without getting a single piece and losing all of his." Shikamaru casually remarked as they walked away.

"Why do you do this?" Asuma anime cried.

"Why not?"

* * *

"L-Let go of me!" Sasuke struggled as Naruto finally reached the training field and proceeded to let him go. "What's the big idea?" Sasuke asked, more than annoyed as Naruto sighed in relief.

"Honestly I just wanted to get out of there and doing something. Now that we got these scrolls, we can do something with them, and even work together for it. But before that..." Naruto grinned as he got out the scroll containing Air Bullet Barrage. After spreading it out, he slowly went through the hand-signs, not really calling upon the jutsu.

Kurama stirred awake. **_"Jeez kit, what's with this jutsu? It feels...incomplete honestly." _**Kurama asked as he looked through the scroll.

Naruto spoke aloud out of confusion, "What do you mean by that?" He asked as Sasuke looked even more confused. Kurama groaned.

_**"You STILL haven't told him!?" **_Kurama asked in pure disbelief as Naruto chuckled nervously.

"I still don't even know if I'm allowed to tell him? Isn't it against the village rules?" Sasuke looked downright annoyed with this comment as he interrupted Kurama.

"Just tell me already. I'm sure the Hokage won't mind since we're on the same team. Having secrets will just bog us down and probably get us killed." Sasuke explained as Naruto looked a bit less determined.

"W-Well...I would have to tell all of you..." Naruto laughed nervously as Sasuke punched him in the face. "HEY WHAT WAS THAT FOR!?" Naruto yelled in pain.

"You deserved it Dobe." Sasuke said coldly as he sighed. "But try telling me now, then we'll go and tell them later." Sasuke continued, a tad less cold unlike the statement right before.

Naruto lamented a bit, but after a good scolding from Kurama, sighed aloud, "Okay...but it's a Grade S secret, unlike before, this one is beyond serious so I'm going to whisper it into your ear, and unless I, or the Jiji tell you too, you cannot tell a living soul about it." Naruto said with strict seriousness that was usually beyond him, but for Sasuke's credit, he simply nodded as Naruto's normally Sapphire eyes with a faint crimson glow turned near purple in color. Naruto got close to Sasuke's ear and began to whisper. "Kurama isn't a separate personality, but instead the name of the Nine Tailed Fox beast. I'm the holder of him and he's been helping me all these years, but because of his reputation in the village, we can't talk about him so we pass him off as a separate personality." Naruto explained.

"Explains the eye color." Sasuke said simply as he backed away. "So...does he...help you with the Jutsu?" Sasuke asked somewhat awkwardly as Naruto shrugged.

"Kinda? He helps my body remember the jutsu with these weird seals of them, as well as helping me out when I was little at the Academy. Such as stopping me from getting mad at H-." Naruto's voice cracked a bit as he hid behind a grinning mask that Sasuke knew too well at this point. Sasuke sighed.

"Makes sense. Well, can...Can I meet him?" Sasuke asked with a slight hint of curiosity in his tone that Naruto's mask fell slightly at.

**"You already have." **Kurama spoke aloud with a foxy grin upon Naruto's face. **"I popped up here and there to yell at the Old Fart, among other things, but this Jutsu doesn't look right...it looks like only a part of the full jutsu, and it's probably just lowered in order to reduce the power and ease new people into using it. But because of the huge drain of Chakra, it just lowers the usability of said Jutsu as a result..." **Kurama said as he stared at the scroll. **"Hey kit, I need your help with this one, I want to use you as a sort of judger here since I'll be doing the Jutsu instead of the kit." **Kurama told Sasuke who shrugged.

"Judger? So you want me to judge the effectiveness them?" Sasuke asked as Kurama nodded.

**"Basically I'm going to try completing this jutsu one sign at a time, using what the kit and I know about it in order to complete it for real. Since it looks to be a pretty A or S rank Jutsu that I motioned him to pick up, but I don't think it was supposed to be in the Genin section." **Kurama explained as Sasuke looked a bit confused.

"How so?"

Kurama sighed. **"The scroll color was different." **Kurama scratched his face a tad nervously as he took out the original Academy style of his, and put it down. Sasuke hovered overhead. **"Look, the Academy jutsu scrolls are in a faded brown color, then the Genin style is a light brownish green color, but this scroll is a blueish red color." **Kurama pointed out, showing how there were indeed a difference in color. **"I think that this is most likely a Chunnin or Jonin Jutsu, but it was hidden off near the end of the Genin section. It looked like it hadn't been touched in a long while given that there was a gathering of cobwebs on it. In fact, if it wasn't for that fact that it was one of the few Jutsus in the Wind area, I wouldn't have asked Naruto to look at it. As soon as I pointed it out, he just went after it." **Kurama shrugged, not really caring about hiding his existence at this point with Sasuke.

Most would say that Sasuke and Naruto were like rivals in a way, bickering at each other but still being good teammates, but Sasuke felt a tad differently when it came to Kurama. He was calm, but it was obvious that he could easily become dangerous with what he knew. "Hmm...do you think we should tell the others?" Sasuke asked, though it was clear what he thought of the matter.

Kurama simply grinned his foxy grin. **"Why bother? They left it in the Genin section, and if it wasn't for the fact that I know that the Jutsu doesn't look complete, then most would overlook it." **Kurama shrugged.

"How do you even know it's incomplete? It looks complete to me." Sasuke asked, noting how the scroll clearly explained it all, but Kurama shook his head.

**"Because this Jutsu doesn't tell its whole story. Think of it this way, there's three main parts to this jutsu. There's disappearing, making multiple clones of yourself, and then having them all do the Air bullet jutsu. The problem is, this jutsu only really uses two of those three parts, the making multiple clones and then having them all do the Air bullet jutsu." **Kurama explained as Sasuke nodded along.

"I think I have an idea for the sign then, wouldn't a Rat sign work here?" Sasuke asked as Kurama hmmed at it.

**"Let's test it out." **Kurama said as he slowly did the hand-signs, making sure they all worked as they did, and as soon as he went to the Rat sign, it felt off. **"Hmm...I think there's supposed to be something before it, it doesn't circulate the Chakra correctly." **Kurama explained as Naruto edged in.

"Hey! Stop stealing my body for that long Kurama, I wanna try it!" Naruto said as Kurama rolled his eyes.

_**"We're one you numskull, technically you ARE doing it as well, but sorry about that, got carried away."** _Kurama apologized as Naruto grinned.

"Never expected you two to be friends, but whatever. Hmm...let's try this!" Naruto grinned as he quickly went through the hand-signs, while adding a Kai symbol in front of the Rat. Kurama blinked as he noticed how the Chakra flow corrected itself with the simple change. "Got it!" Naruto grinned as he activated the technique. "Futon: Multi-Shadow Air Barrage Jutsu!" He yelled as he seemed to vanish into the trees around. Sasuke got on alert as multiple Air bullets rushed towards him, which he only narrowly avoided.

"Give me a warning next time!" Sasuke yelled at Naruto who shared a foxy grin with Kurama.

**"We did."** The two spoke in union before laughing. "So, how was it?" Naruto asked.

"Took too long. It took about ten seconds before you popped out and attacked me, if someone with Chakra hunting properties snuck up on you, you wouldn't have that much time. Even worse, you were obviously in the trees around us, so someone could have put traps there to bait you out, also ending the jutsu. You need something to speed the jutsu up." Sasuke informed as Naruto sighed.

"Knew it..." Naruto groaned in annoyance, "I was thinking the same thing, but the Chakra wasn't building fast enough for it, it felt like it wasn't able to, or that the flow was just not going fast enough.

"Well, you corrected the flow from the looks of it, maybe...maybe it's just not the complete flow of it?" Sasuke shrugged.

Kakashi and Sakura watched from the edge of the Training field outside of the two's range of sight.

"Seems to me they just wanted to start on their Jutsu, what about you Sakura?" Kakashi asked as Sakura groaned.

"I don't know, personally I want to ask about that Medjutsu Taijutsu style, but right now I'm just wanting to learn a bit more about the hand signs." Sakura said as Kakashi smiled.

"Well since we're a team, let's go ask Naruto and Sasuke, it seems they got their hands on a really high ranked Jutsu somehow from the looks of it." Kakashi said cheerfully, but his thoughts told a different story. _How did they even learn of that jutsu? I can't reveal my Sharigan to them just yet, not with Sasuke there with how fresh a wound it is, but even without it I can tell that's a Jonin level technique from the color of the scroll, how did they get their hands on it? On top of that, how did the Librarian __not call it out? They don't look to be doing it right though, maybe the scroll there is incomplete?_ His thoughts a whirlwind of ideas, he walked on over alongside Sakura.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto grinned as he called him on over. "Look what I can do!" He grinned as Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"We're still working through it since Kurama said that the Jutsu was incomplete. Oh and Sakura, the **dobe** has something to tell you." Sasuke spoke with venom on the insult towards Naruto, who flinched a bit before explaining to Sakura and Kakashi about Kurama's existence.

Sakura would normally react with extreme anger, and Naruto even flinched premptively at the thought, but Sakura was a cold fury this time. If Kurama wasn't there, he would almost think himself safe for a second, but Kurama warned him to run and run fast as Sakura took a deep breath.

"Naruto. You knew of this for how long?" She said with an icy cold tone.

"S-Since I was Seven?" He meekly answered.

"And we're how old now?" Sakura continued with her line of questions in the same tone.

"T-Twelve going on thirteen?" He continued while trying to back up out of genuine fear.

_**"I suggest you run** **now."**_Kurama gulped mentally as her eyes glinted on up.

With the fury that even got Kurama scared for his safety, Sakura rose with her fist on up, "NARUTO!" She screamed to the heavens before rushing after him.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" Naruto yelled for dear life before running away out of terror for his safety.

Kakashi and Sasuke just watched before shrugging and sighing respectfully. "Now what Kakashi-sensei?" Sasuke asked as Kakashi looked instead towards the scroll.

"How did you come across this?" Kakashi asked instead.

"I didn't, Naruto and Kurama found it in the Wind Jutsu section of the Genin area. Kurama said that it looked to be untouched for a while and that Naruto was curious enough to grab it. On top of that, he mentioned it was probably a higher ranked technique due to the hue of the scroll, but that it was incomplete in a way. He was trying to bruteforce the hand-signs alongside Naruto just now, but it still needs work.

"Hmm, and how good were they with the version they got?" Kakashi asked as Sasuke smirked.

"Kurama added a Rat sign here and Naruto added a Kai sign right before it, managing to get the jutsu to work properly, but the speed is slow as it takes about ten or so seconds before the barrage attacks, and though it's powerful, it's easy to counter and isn't as strong as I would expect Jonin techniques to be." Sasuke explained with a wave of his hand. Kakashi smirked.

"Well I'll give you a few hints for it then. This is only 15 of the 34 hand-signs needed for this jutsu, but you only really need 17 to really perform the jutsu itself, with each hand-sign adding more speed, power, and efficiency to the barrage. While this technique can be reduced to the lower number, it's recommended that you learn the Jutsu itself and how the signs goes through before you try having this little signs in it. To be honest, this would be a Chunnin level scroll at best in this state, but the color seems to be of a Jonin scroll oddly enough. Get Naruto and Sakura over here and we're going to go over all of the signs, as well as give you all a rundown of it. It's time for your first lesson as Genin ninja." Kakashi explained as Sasuke nodded.

"Hai Sensei." Sasuke said before heading off to grab Sakura and Naruto.

"Now what was this doing in the Genin section...it can't be a coincidence that a technique this perfect for Naruto shows up..." Kakashi mumbled aloud to no one but himself.

* * *

_**A/N WE DID IT! Chapter 9 is done, and the next chapter has a pure set up this time! As Kakashi said, it seems that Naruto got his hands on a really damn good technique, but it's only about half of the signs needed, and while Naruto can use the technique in a way, it's nowhere good enough to really wreck havoc in this state, and takes up a good bit of Chakra as a result. Ironically enough, they managed to find the first 17 hand-signs, but that'll more be explained in the next chapter.**_

_**Also, Team 7 now all know the existence of Kurama, no longer just Naruto and Kakashi! Remember that before now, the most the other Fox Squad members knew was that Naruto talked to another personality of himself, but now Kurama is fully revealed to them and we will be hearing more from our favorite foxy little friend! **_

_**Finally, Thank you all for the reviews and everything! It helps a lot and means even more, and I'm just glad that you guys seem to love this so much, cause it's a lot of fun writing it. Hopefully the next chapter won't be as long XD**_

_**Well, with all that said, I'll catch you all on the next one!**_

_**oh and P.S. Chapter 6 is STILL in editing, the 1st half is all done, but the second half is taking its time. It's going to be long, as just the first half alone seemed to hit 10k in its length after editing. I just kept wanting to add things here and there, as well as flesh somethings I didn't originally. Honestly I might break it into 3 parts just to make it more manageable, so I'm sorry for the delay on that. Sadly I can't post any of the parts until it's all done, just because I don't want to upload an incomplete chapter and that it really wouldn't make sense without the whole thing, so bare with me on that everyone!**_

_**Cya!**_

_**-Char**_


	11. Team 7 Arc 4- The Training Begins

_**A/N We're finally picking up some steam with this training Arc! After a somewhat slow beginning, we're getting to what is probably the main meat and bones with this. When it comes down to this arc, this is where I'm mostly going to be expanding the cast's abilities beyond what it usually is, but as you saw, I haven't really been focusing on the other two teams, mostly because that is just simply way too many to remember for the most part, and I admit I had to keep looking back to make sure what they have and don't have and the like, which sucks. However, I will be giving some really nice moments to them whenever Naruto runs into them. Might as well list some of my plans for this, as well as answer some things that people may be confused about.**_

_**1\. He still has training with Hiashi, I know I'm still editing Chapter 6 (currently having 3 parts to edit and I'm almost done editing part 2, but god is it a long chapter to edit I'm sorry!) but I do like that detail there. Hiashi is a great Taijustu user, seeing as most of the Hyuuga clan focuses on it with some exceptions if I recall correctly, so having him train Naruto could get him at least up to speed with Sasuke and more accurately explain his skill at it by the Sasuke and Naruto clash (which if you think about it, Naruto never really was good at Taijutsu at the beginning and then somehow immediately grabbed the skill by the Sai arc, so I guess this is me trying to rectify that in my own way.**_

_**2\. This story is mostly going to focus around Team 7, mostly because I think that if I try writing more than four or five people in a scene, I forget who's there and it's hard to write dialogue for them. That's not to say the other characters wouldn't be there period, not at all since Naruto still lives with Choji and Choza and the like, but it's more that they have their own arcs and the like that Naruto simply doesn't see. Side stories if you would. So there might be moments where I write a chapter that surrounds their team during this arc, but don't expect much of it sadly.**_

_**3\. The main skills I want Team 7 to get out of this is actually some that were already introduced. The Multi-Shadow Clone: Air Bullet Barrage (yes I finally got the name down, yay.) is what's probably going to become Naruto's signature move in this, making use of the Air Bullet he has already mastered during the last arc and expanding it into different circumstances. But because he's trying to learn this, it'll allow him access to expanding the jutsu to include other ones, such as Rasengan if he ever learns it. Sasuke I'm focusing more on how he can improve his Fireball jutsu, and I'm thinking of making him a trap person since I combined their Taijutsu styles (I had been thinking this since the Academy Arc actually, and it was why the two styles were right next to each other!) where Sasuke would be the main distraction who would lead into the traps that Naruto laid, or vice versa. It's a fun foil over canon where it would normally be the other way around, so I thought it would be pretty cool to see how they would differ in opposing roles. Sakura is a tad different, since I don't think she would truly be around Naruto while training, and instead would be used as a catalyst to see more of the Village itself! All in all, I'm pretty hyped to start this.**_

_**With all the boring side-stuff about my agenda over this arc out of the way, let's not delay and just get started with it!**_

_**Edit: Had a few typos near the end, I had said they started at 5, when they had started from 7, sorry about that! Also decided to add a little extra scene at the end of the chapter. Thank you **__**dai sennin kurosaki d naruto for calling me out, as well as showing me that Boruto had added to Kakashi's backstory a bit! I never knew that he was actually just an early Genin from the age of 5, I always figured he hit Anbu first, then was pulled out to work on the Genin team with Rin and Obito, but I already committed to that plot line, but I will be using some of that in this story, such as the three of them being on a team for six years together. (How they stayed together for six years, yet it took six years for Kakashi to even open up to them is a bloody plot hole in its own right, but I think I can work with it? I always assumed it was about 2 years or so tbh.) We'll definitely be seeing more about Kakashi's past as he helps Sasuke understand his own latent abilities, so definitely look forward to that.**_

_**Also, as I explained ForestHunter21, Combination Jutsus as they'll be called are going to be explained more in depth in the upcoming chapters, but each character will be getting their own one based around their abilities. I figured that with how Jutsu works that it could easily be explained, as well as a fun way to give a callback to their main attributes. As we're aware of, Naruto's is the Multi Shadow Clone: Air Bullet Barrage, but that will not be his only one, he'll have a few more but they will all revolve around the Shadow Clone Jutsu, since that's his main technique proper. By utilizing his Chakra in a certain way, he vanishes and calls up Clones that already have the Air Bullet Jutsu readied to fire at the enemy. Basically at it's full power, it can enhance the strength of the jutsu threefold, but it's a lot more dangerous as a result because you need to have the Chakra to maintain that power, as well as using more hand signs in order to ready the use of the double jutsu. We'll have a better explanation for it coming up in the later chapters as Sakura and Sasuke start wanting to learn theirs, but do note that they are still a long way off for their own techniques, Naruto just got lucky and found the scroll. They're going to be going in mostly blind for theirs until Kakashi helps out when he views them ready.**_

_**Also, I have not forgotten about Choza and Jiraya at all, but they are still a long way off before telling **_**their _side of the story._**

**_With all that said, hope you enjoy the chapter!_**

* * *

**Two and the Same Team Seven Training Arc: The First Lesson**

"Huh? Our first lesson?" Naruto looked in confusion as Sakura told them that Kakashi wanted to teach them something. "AWESOME!" He grinned with his outburst, even as Sakura put her fist down somewhat lightly on his head. "Ow..." Naruto whined a bit, but the grin didn't really fade and it didn't really look like he was hurt. Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"Might as well check it out, maybe he has an idea on how to speed up the technique for you?" Sasuke said while walking away, knowing that Naruto was right behind.

"Boys..." Sakura rolled her eyes with a smile as she collected the forgotten scrolls. One scroll looked interesting to her though as she looked over it, "Oh yeah, Naruto handed him the scroll for the Healing Waves." Sakura reminded herself with a smile as she started walking on over to Kakashi.

Once all three were there, Kakashi motioned them to sit, as he did to. "So, Naruto, I noticed the technique you were using over there." Kakashi started with a eye smile as Naruto nearly exploded to explain it to him, before Kurama spoke out.

_**"Okay Naruto, calm yourself. I been letting you be yourself a bit more because I know you're trying to be a bit more mature, but it's clear that he has something to explain to you." **_Kurama said simply as Naruto sighed.

_"Yeah I know..." _Naruto sighed as Sakura and Kakashi looked at him a tad weirdly for it. Sasuke kinda figured what happened and stayed silent.

"Kurama I assume?" Kakashi asked as Naruto nodded.

"Yeah, he wanted me to let you continue explaining, just in case you have something that might help us out about it." Naruto relayed as Kakashi smirked.

"Well, to be honest, I did want to see you do the technique in your own immature way, but I guess I can ask now." Kakashi said as Naruto deadpanned.

_**"Make him the target." **_Kurama said mercilessly as Naruto smirked.

"Multi-Shadow Clone: Air Bullet barrage!" He yelled as he quickly went through the seventeen hand signs he knew before disappearing. Kakashi noticed and substituted out of the barrage and grabbed one of the Shadow Clones to throw back down. "HEY! That hurt!" Naruto yelled as the memories assembled afterwards while heading to the ground.

"You did use me as your target, but that was pretty slow." Kakashi noted, "Well, it does make sense..." Kakashi continued on.

"How so?" Naruto asked as Kakashi motioned them all to sit again.

"For the first part, you're only using 17 of the hand signs which is the bare minimal to get the Jutsu to work. If you could learn the other half of the Jutsu, then it would be a Jutsu that many Jonin would be scared to fight. Add to that the amount of Chakra you two hold, and I feel like that Jutsu would help you in a good amount of fights." Kakashi explained as Naruto thought a bit.

_"He seems to know a lot about it..." _Kurama sighed.

_**"Probably because he knows what the other half is. Why else would he be so sure of himself?" **_Kurama thought back as Naruto groaned.

"Kakashi-sensei, do you know what the other half of the Jutsu is?" Naruto asked as Kakashi shrugged.

"I know the signs, but it's a bit tricky to explain." Kakashi started, "Now is time for your lesson, so I want everyone to listen closely. You all learned in the Academy about your Hand signs, correct?" The team nodded, "Well, those Hand signs are just the beginning for Jutsus. When it comes to Jutsus, you channel your Chakra through those signs, directing it to where it needs to go, and using your voice to vocalize the technique to get your body understanding of what Jutsu you are to preform; however, for more advanced techniques, this may or may not work. Some techniques require you to use the raw Chakra and channel it into the hand sign itself, to mold it to where it needs to go, rather than simply having it flow to where it need to go. Such techniques could include the Fireball Jutsu, where the Chakra is stored in the stomach, then molded via the hand signs in order to become the raging Fireball that is released, or the Air Bullet, which operates the same way just with wind instead of fire. When it comes to this Jutsu, you need to have the Chakra already ready before starting it." Kakashi explained as Sakura deadpanned.

"You didn't really answer his question, Sensei. If you know the signs, why not tell him so he can try that?" Sakura asked as Kakashi sighed.

"Because I want him to try and find that out on his own, to find the flow within his Chakra while doing the Jutsu in order to understand it. If he can do that, he could learn Signless Jutsu, where you either have one or no signs needed in order to cast it. For the most part, Shadow Clones are one of the easiest Jutsus in order to make Signless seeing as it's only three to begin with. If you all could master how to understand your Chakra flow, it can help you with any Jutsu, or any path of job you find yourself pursuing in the future." Kakashi continued as Naruto continued his stare.

"Hmm...then could you give me tips whenever I'm doing my signs then? If you can't just do-" Naruto started as the others deadpanned.

"Kurama, stop speaking through him." Kakashi said as Naruto gained a tick mark.

"Yeah, let him say what he was going to say." Another one added from Sakura's comment.

"Hn." Sasuke grunted, not bothering to add anything.

"HEY! IT WAS MY OPINION!" Naruto shouted to defend himself. "It's just that Kurama helped me word it better." He continued much more softly, looking away from embarrassment. It was...comparable to a whine to say the least.

"Okay then Naruto. Hmm...you noticed when doing the technique and adding the two signs you found, that the flow of your Chakra felt...off, right?" Kakashi asked as Naruto nodded.

"Yeah, it felt like something twisted up the wrong way, like when I eat too much ramen and it gets stuck in my throat!" Naruto explained.

"Naruto..." Sakura growled out before sighing.

"Hmm...I guess you could compare it to that, the Chakra flow gets distorted and it doesn't flow as it should for the technique. Using our Hand signs, we redirect it to a flow that...evens it out, like when you get the ramen out from being stuck and it goes down correctly. The thing is, you have the other issue here. You're getting the ramen halfway down and then you're not having it go anywhere. The Chakra doesn't know how to finish it up so it just brute forces it to go down further. Since that's happening, it causes the speed and power of the jutsu to be majorly limited. The jutsu is easily a Jonin level technique when completed, but as it stands now, it may be a mid Chunnin Jutsu at best. What I want you to focus on alongside Kurama is working on your Chakra Flow, understand how the hand signs redirect and shape the Chakra and try to come up with at least one of the seventeen hand signs by the end of today. Don't try to force it and just trial by elimination it, but try to learn how the Chakra flows on its own and work with it." Kakashi explained as Naruto nodded.

"Uh, can I try that now, or...?" Naruto awkwardly asked, looking fully ready to start trying it as Kakashi couldn't stop a snicker from coming out.

"Yes Naruto, you can go about doing that now. I'm just going to help Sasuke and Sakura out with their training while you work on that." Kakashi said as Naruto grinned, got up and ran a bit further into the Training Field in order to be by the pond. Kakashi looked towards Sakura next, who sat up straight in attention.

"Yes Sensei?" Sakura asked as Kakashi gave an eye smile.

"Sakura, you're working to becoming a Medical Ninja, correct?" Kakashi asked as she nodded, "Then you realize that Chakra Control will be the most important thing that you can learn, which is why I want you to help Naruto with his assignment, you can check his Chakra through his palms, and help him align it with what you believe the Jutsu needs to be. With this, it will increase your awareness of how to find someone's Chakra, increase your own control of Chakra in general, as well as teach you Chakra Flow." Kakashi explained as Sakura nodded. Kakashi's eye opened a tad ominously, "But do remember to not try to take control of his Chakra to force it. Chakra is like a stream, so simply redirect it. Forcing someone's Chakra is something that is useful for Genjutsu, and you might harm him doing so when he's trying to learn this. Give him advice, but don't try to force your way onto him." Kakashi warned her as she nodded.

"Okay Kakashi-sensei, is there anything else?" Sakura asked as he nodded.

"Just one more thing, tomorrow you will be training with Anko in order to head to the Hospital. I don't know that much about Medjutsu so it's hard for me to give much advice on it, so I'll be trusting Anko to help you out with that since Hinata also showed interest in taking up Medjutsu. She figured that you two learning together might be more beneficial than learning apart." Kakashi explained.

"What about you guys?" Sakura asked as Kakashi gave another eye smile.

"Don't worry about them, they'll be practicing their own stuff as well, so just focus on getting better with Medjutsu." Kakashi said as she nodded and ran towards Naruto to help out. Kakashi finally locked eyes with Sasuke.

"So...what about me?" Sasuke asked as Kakashi sighed.

"Well...We need to have a chat in private first." Kakashi began, putting a few privacy seals around them. "Jiraya let me borrow a few of his privacy seals so I could tell you this." Kakashi explained as Sasuke took a hesitant step back.

"Tell me what!?" Sasuke asked, more demanded from, Kakashi as Kakashi sighed.

Kakashi raised his arm and moved the headband from his left eye as the Sharingan came into focus for Sasuke.

"H-How, HOW DO YOU HAVE THAT!?" Sasuke yelled as Kakashi moved it back to cover it, a tad more exhausted after just moving the headband.

"When I was younger, I was assigned to a Genin team as a Jonin to train me in the art of teamwork..." Kakashi began as a light Genjutsu fell under Sasuke to show him the events while Kakashi explained.

* * *

"You see, back then I was angry about what had happened to my father, who committed Seppuku in order to atone for his failure as the clan head of the Hataki clan, to the point where I swore off comrades and quickly rose to becoming a Jonin and Anbu." Kakashi began explaining as images of his father and a younger Kakashi's rage flowed into Sasuke's brain. "That was until the Yondaime, Naruto's father, came to me after another Anbu mission." Kakashi continued as the scene played out in Sasuke's mind.

_"Hokage-sama, here's the results of the mission." The younger Kakashi spoke briefly and sharply behind his dog-shaped Anbu mask as he handed the Yondaime a scroll._

_"I see..." The Yondaime said as Kakashi made his way to leave, "Wait, Kakashi-san, come here for a moment." He said as Kakashi rolled his eyes underneath the mask._

_"It's Dog, Hokage-sama. I'm not off duty right now and I was going to take another mission right after this." Kakashi spoke back as the Yondaime said nothing, waiting on Kakashi to walk over. Eventually, with an annoyed sigh, Kakashi did just that._

_"I'm assigning you to a Genin team." The Yondaime said simply as Kakashi recoiled back a bit._

_"Why?" Kakashi asked simply as the Yondaime finally looked up at him._

_"Right now, you are just going out mission after mission, you're only 12 and yet you continue to bury yourself in missions that could easily get you killed. You never had the luxury of just being a kid and this is my way of trying to help you out." The Yondaime tried to explain as Kakashi scoffed._

_"I don't need your help. I'm doing just fine on my missions and I don't need two Genins slowing me down." Kakashi snapped back._

_"You don't have a choice Kakashi, this is effective immediately." The Yondaime said, nearly just as coldly as Kakashi turned away._

_"Understood Hokage-san." Kakashi said before jumping away into the shadows, the mask of Dog on the table in front of the Yondaime._

_The Yondaime sighed before the scene ended._

"That was Naruto's father?" Sasuke asked as Kakashi nodded.

"Minato-sensei was a great teacher for me, but I had other ideas of it. I viewed being on the team as a punishment for not fulfilling my duties correctly, needing to be helped by Minato. The thing is, that wasn't really the case, instead the problem was how I acted. I was cold to everyone and anyone and completed my jobs with no remorse for anything, following to the letter on them to not be like my father, who disobeyed orders in order to try saving his friends. It was for this that Minato-sensei pulled me out of the Anbu, to stop me from falling down on that path." Kakashi explained. "I'll continue the story another day, sadly the Genjutsu is still weighing me down a bit and I don't know if we have the time we need to finish it up, but I want to help you learn the power of your Dojutsu. On top of that, most of your training will be alongside Naruto since your Taijutsu styles collide to become the Shadow Dragon Flame Style in the end. I figure you shouldn't have too much problems mastering your Chakra Flow since you mastered the Fireball Jutsu and you could watch Naruto learn his." Sasuke nodded at the end of the statement.

"I was noticing the Chakra Flow while using my jutsu, and I was working to try lowering the amount of signs I need to use it or learn the Multi-Fireball Jutsu from it. You still haven't explained how you got the Sharigan, but I assume it's a long story." Sasuke said as Kakashi nodded.

"It is indeed, but right now what's important is getting you three started on your lessons. Right now you're mostly practicing together on your individual jutsus, but tomorrow we will focus on improving your body." Kakashi said as he deactivated the privacy seals before taking them down.

"How long has it been?" Sasuke asked as Kakashi shrugged.

"Only about ten minutes or so." Kakashi said as Sasuke blinked in surprised.

"Could've swore it was less..." Sasuke mumbled as Kakashi gave an eye smile.

"Well, let's keep that a secret between us for now, I'm only really telling you because I don't want you to find out later on and go after me for it on the field. This way you're at least aware of it and aren't distracted in battle." Kakashi explained as Sasuke shook his head.

"In that case, doesn't it make more sense to tell Naruto and Sakura? That way they also aren't distracted?" Sasuke asked as Kakashi shook his head.

"Neither of them know about the Sharingan, so they probably wouldn't be able to understand." Kakashi said as Sasuke nodded.

"I can see that, sure for now I'll keep the secret, but if they find out, I'll explain it to them." Sasuke assured as Kakashi shook his head yet again.

"If it comes down to that, I'll explain it." Kakashi said as Sasuke nodded before walking away.

* * *

"Hmm...so focus on the Chakra Flow, right Kurama?" Naruto asked as Kurama simply nodded. Naruto appeared within his Chakra Core with Kurama in his shrine area. "Ah, this will help!" Naruto grinned as he realized where he was.

**"Well it'll help a bit with seeing it." **Kurama shrugged as Naruto started doing the hand signs, seeing a little orb of his Chakra float up towards him.

"It's like what happened last time!" Naruto exclaimed as Kurama nodded.

**"I didn't even think you noticed last time, but this is your Chakra manifested, so this orb is basically what you're doing to your Chakra. Seeing how it reacts to your hand signs could allow you to find the other half of the Jutsu." **Kurama explained with a yawn as Naruto nodded.

Each hand-sign made the ball grow until the 17th one, where the ball seemed to shift into a wide disc. "Woah...so cool! I wonder what hand-sign goes next..." Naruto said, as Kurama stared at it.

**"Hmm...try the symbol you do for the shadow clone jutsu." **Kurama asked as Naruto did the symbol for Tiger, watching as the disc deformed and reacted violently with itself, nearly stabbing him as it went away.

"AHH!" Naruto yelled with fear, jumping away before it hit. "WHAT WAS THAT!?" Naruto yelled at Kurama as Kurama snickered.

**"That was you messing up the Chakra flow, if the Chakra destabilizes here, it tends to attack the user since you're messing up the Chakra Core with it. With how you can be so damn stubborn, it's best if you stay in here practicing in order to make sure if it's correct or not." **Kurama explained as Naruto glared a bit before repeating the 17 seals. Once again, the Chakra took a disc-like shape. Naruto stared at it for a bit as he tried remember the hand signs.

"Hmm...a disc-like shape...wait, could that mean we could try Dog?" Naruto said as he made the sign for Dog, noting how the disc didn't destabilize and instead condensed out a bit, sharpening its edge. "IT WORKED!" Naruto exclaimed happily, "DOG WAS THE NEXT SIGN!" He grinned as he celebrated.

**"That actually worked. Huh." **Kurama said in surprised, **"Nice job Kit, now go for another sign." **Kurama told him as Naruto nodded.

"Well it looks like its still around the disc-like shape, but it looks a bit more flat, so maybe...Monkey?" Naruto said a tad hesitant as he did the sign for Monkey. The disc wobbled a bit, but didn't really collapsed. But the edge did appear less sharp than before. Naruto stared at Kurama.

**"Yeah, this is actually what happened before when we were using the scroll. There's a missing hand-sign." **Kurama explained as Naruto felt himself shaken awake.

"Naruto!" Sakura said as Naruto jolted awake.

"Huh, what!?" Naruto said, "Aww, man, Kurama was helping me out with that..." Naruto sighed as Sakura looked at him in confusion.

"Oh, did I interrupt?" Sakura asked as Naruto nodded.

"I learned two of the signs, but I'm missing one in the middle between them. I got that Dog was the 18th symbol, and it looks like Monkey is the symbol after the one I'm missing." Naruto explained, a tad frustrated with himself.

"How did you get those?" Sakura asked as Naruto sighed.

"I kinda followed the ball of Chakra. It was a normal ball until the 17th hand-sign where it turned into a disc-like object and nearly tried to kill me when I got the sign wrong. I tried Dog cause of the disc-like shape and it sharpened. After I did Monkey it kinda...dulled. It feels like it's a wind styled jutsu, but it's missing something." Naruto groaned as he laid on the ground. "It feels so nice here, next to the pond and stuff...I can't believe we're Genin now." Naruto said as Sakura rolled her eyes at the obvious topic change.

"Yeah, it feels like forever ago since we were in the Academy huh?" Sakura said as she laid down next to him. as Naruto made a sound of agreement.

"Yeah...Do you think we should get the Fox Squad back together?" Naruto asked as Sakura hummed a bit.

"Well, we're not really apart, are we? We met them again today, and we're all getting stronger in order to help the village." Sakura explained as Naruto sighed.

"I...I don't know. We didn't even really talk and I barely even got to say hi before we were all dragged away from each other." Naruto said as Sakura rolled her eyes.

"It's been a day you baka, we'll see and talk to them again. Our training is only just getting started and you know that our senseis are planning on having us all train with one another. In fact..." Sakura said as Naruto's eye perked up. "I'm training with Hinata tomorrow at the hospital." Sakura explained as Naruto jolted up.

"Wait, Hinata's at the hospital?" Naruto asked as he misunderstood, much to Sakura's annoyance.

"No, I will be training with her at the hospital to study Medjutsu, Anko-sensei will be taking us there in order to help us learn." Sakura explained as Naruto let out a sound of understanding.

"That makes more sense, hmm...I got a question for you." Naruto started as Sakura looked towards him, "There's twelve different types of hand-signs, right?" Naruto asked as she nodded.

"Yeah, there's: Dog, Pig, Tiger, Horse, Hare, Bird, Rat, Serpent, Monkey, Ox, Dragon, and Boar. Why do you ask?" Sakura listed while performing them.

"Hmm...give me a second." Naruto said as he slowly did the 18 seals he knew so far, imagining the disc-like shape that his chakra was in. Sakura put her hands on his palms.

"I see what you mean, Naruto, this is your current Chakra Flow, right?" Sakura asked, seeing the disc-like shape his Chakra was forming into. Naruto merely nodded while they closed their eyes to focus.

"If Monkey is the seal after, then what binds Dog to it..." Naruto asked aloud while Sakura took a deep breath.

"Follow your gut Naruto, what feels right to you here?" Sakura explained as Naruto took a deep breath as well.

"Dragon." Naruto breathed as he opened his eyes. Taking a deep breath, he slowly did the hand signs for the 18 he knew once again before adding a Dragon hand sign, then followed it up with a Monkey hand-sign. Pain flashed through his eyes for a second as he did the Monkey sign before fading. "W-Well we now know that Monkey i-isn't number 19..." Naruto groaned out, still a bit pained from the sharpness his Chakra flow took on.

"Naruto! You okay?" Sakura looked him over with panic in her eyes as Naruto waved her off.

"It's fine Sakura, just got hit a bit by the Chakra." Naruto said with a trademark grin, "See, all fine!" He continued as Sakura sighed before checking his palm.

"You're right, but...be careful, okay?" Sakura asked as Naruto smiled.

"You're being weird Sakura-chan, but sure, I'll be careful." Naruto said back as Sakura nodded.

The two noticed Kakashi and Sasuke walking on over to them and turned towards him. "Yo." Kakashi said as he looked towards Naruto with an eye smile, "I see you added two hand-signs?" He asked as Naruto grinned and nodded.

"Yeah, it turns out that it was Dog into Dragon. To be honest, I don't really know how I got Dragon, it just..." Naruto stuttered off as a light embarrassed blush filled his face.

"It just?" Sasuke asked to egg him on.

"It just came to me, okay!?" Naruto snapped back, embarrassed beyond belief. Kakashi smiled towards Sakura.

"Don't worry about it Naruto, Sakura was reading your Chakra flow and gave your brain a suggestion on what could be used. So, what shape is it taking in your Chakra?" Kakashi asked as Naruto scratched his head a bit, still blushing a bit from the answer.

"A-A disc-like shape, with razor sharp edges. Oh, but there's this weird thing in the center now after the Dragon sign. The Monkey sign violently reacted to me after which, even though it didn't before." Naruto said as Kakashi gave another eye smile.

"Well maybe it's because it was never Monkey to begin with." Kakashi said as Naruto looked at him as if he was dumb. "What sign is similar to Monkey that could work?" Kakashi asked as Naruto did the twelve hand signs to check, before stopping on Hare. "There you go, try it with Hare into Dragon this time." Kakashi asked as Naruto listed out the now 20 signs in his jutsu.

"Multi-shadow clone jutsu: Air Bullet Barrage." He said in a low whisper, seemingly vanishing from all the senses for about five seconds before appearing with Air bullets at the ready, firing towards the ground near Kakashi. The air actually made a small dent in the ground, unlike before where it merely destroyed some of the grass. Naruto landed back down with a huge grin on his face. "I did it! It worked! Thanks Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto said as Kakashi nodded.

"You had the right idea with Monkey, but the problem is that Monkey works more with Earth by condensing the Chakra flow on up to solidify it. The problem is that this Jutsu needs to be more free flowing, which is why you shape it as a wide disc with sharp edges. The Hare sign works well with Wind and Fire by speeding it up, rotating it to destructive lengths, while the Dragon sign ignites and gives it energy. The next sign will be a lot harder to solve however, and it only gets harder from there with more kickback from mistakes. Which is why I don't want you practicing this without me there to watch over you." Kakashi warned as Naruto nodded.

"Yeah, I felt that after trying Monkey, it...wasn't fun." Naruto said as Sakura nodded.

"So, Sakura, how do you feel about the Chakra Flow?" Kakashi asked as Sakura sighed.

"I still don't understand it that much, but I did see the shape it was taking in Naruto's core...but it felt overwhelming." Sakura explained as Naruto looked towards him.

"I told you before that I had a lot of Chakra." Naruto said, "Between me and Kurama, we have enough Chakra to fill a mountaintop!" Naruto explained as Sasuke scoffed.

"Don't you mean a valley?" Sasuke snickered out as Naruto waved it off.

"Oh shut it Teme!" Naruto snapped back before Sasuke scoffed.

"Whatever Dobe." The two shared smirks before Naruto saw that the sun was starting to go down.

"Man, it's already midday? I'm pooped..." Naruto said as Kakashi smirked.

"Well, it's time for your first mission." Kakashi said as Naruto paled.

"No, Not a D rank mission!" Naruto said backing away with fear.

"N-Naruto?" Sakura stuttered out, and even Sasuke looked a bit fearful.

"Yes Naruto, it's a D rank mission. Judging from your reaction, Honoke told you about them." Kakashi said as Naruto nodded a tad stiffly, but it wasn't as bad as before. _Good...he's moving on a bit more, but it'll still going to take time..._ Kakashi thought to himself as the team reluctantly followed Kakashi to the Academy once again.

"Man, we see this place a lot..." Naruto said with a scoff.

"I mean, the Hokage's office is here." Sasuke pointed out, "Makes sense if you think about it as reinforcement of what the Ninja learn. On top of that, they can also sit in on a class to help the teacher out or to try and recall something from that lesson." Sasuke explained as Naruto blinked in surprise.

"Huh." He said dumbly as they moved away from the classroom area towards the staircase to the Hokage. Though usually they would take it up, they ignored it this time and continued straight to the Mission Assignment room, where they met-

"Iruka-sensei!" Naruto exclaimed after seeing Iruka handing out the missions.

"Naruto!" He said back with equal joy in his tone. "Give me a sec and I'll be right with you, okay?" Iruka said as he continued handing out missions for a few minutes to other ninja, some who were Academy Students getting their test missions, or trying to earn some cash to help their families out.

Finally, Naruto was next in line for his mission. "So how's being a Genin?" Iruka grinned as Naruto grinned back.

"Well, I may have already learned a Jonin level technique!" Naruto bragged effortlessly before Sakura punched him in the head.

"Idiot! You know that you got 14 hand-signs to go!" Sakura exclaimed as Iruka blinked.

"A Jonin level Jutsu?" Iruka asked towards Kakashi, who nodded. "That's incredible Naruto! How did you get it?" Iruka said with a secret edge towards Kakashi.

"It was in the Genin section of the library, towards the far back. It looked a bit old, but contained 15 of the hand-signs for the Jutsu. With Kurama's help I was able to find two to get the jutsu working, and then we trained and got three more of the signs." Naruto explained with a grin, oblivious to the rising tension of the room between Iruka and Kakashi.

"What jutsu even is it? May I see the scroll?" Iruka asked as Naruto handed over the original worn out scroll, "Hmm...The Multi-Shadow Clone: Air Bullet Barrage Jutsu. By combining the Shadow Clone and Air Barrage Jutsus, you can take advantage of unaware opponents to knock them out quickly, or inflect heavy damage upon them." Iruka read aloud, noting the missing signs that Naruto was talking about. "It looks like this was cut in half for some reason, wonder why it was in the Genin section." Iruka sighed. "Whatever the case is, this will help you out immensely Naruto, I would return the scroll back to its original section, but I want to ask the Hokage about it, do you mind if I take it?" Iruka asked as Naruto nodded.

"Either way, I already learned all I could from the scroll, so it's fine Iruka-sensei!" Naruto grinned as Iruka put the scroll away.

"Well, glad to know you're learning some powerful Jutsu Naruto, you got a bright future ahead of you. So, were you coming here for a mission?" Iruka asked as Kakashi nodded, much to Naruto's chagrin. "What kind of mission are you looking for?" Iruka teased, knowing full well that it was D rank mission week for the new Genin, and that no one was looking forward to it. Naruto grunted out some choice words as Iruka couldn't contain his snickering.

"It's just a stupid D rank mission..." Naruto mumbled in his grumblings as Iruka nodded.

"I thought so, well it just so happens that I got a request that I set aside for you all, I figured you would want this." Iruka said as the team looked at him in confusion.

"Set aside? You can do that?" Sakura asked as Iruka nodded once again, getting up and grabbing a scroll he had set aside, before turning it towards them.

"Yeah, we've been getting reports of people falling to light Genjutsu in the area, I figured that with your expertise in the field that it would be a good D rank mission for you all. It's just simply in the village, and it's a Scout/Record mission, where you gain the information, see if you can help people that area currently under the Genjutsu, and then report back to us. If all goes well, it should be good for you all to learn." Iruka explained, handing the scroll to Kakashi, surprising Naruto and the rest of Team Seven.

"All right! We got a fun mission!" Naruto hollered in glee at the thought, even if the mission was set inside the village itself, though it was on the outskirts of it.

"Baka! If you yell it too much, people will go after us!" Sakura bopped his head once again, causing Naruto to rub it, thankful that she was learning to hold back her hits a bit.

"S-Sorry..." Naruto apologized, noting that Kurama wasn't going after him lately.

_"**Why would I? You're learning to make your own decisions, and I'm just here to help you out when needed, there's no real need for me to go after you if you're learning how to set your own breaks.**" _Kurama explained, having read the thoughts from Naruto, who simply nodded.

"Naruto are you even paying attention?" Kakashi asked as Naruto blinked, rubbing his head a bit.

"Sorry about that, what was that?" Naruto asked as Kakashi sighed.

"I was asking if you wanted to get something to eat, I figured that we had some time before the mission, and was asking everyone if they wanted to eat or if they wanted to train. Both Sakura and Sasuke wanted to train and prepare their items, so I was asking you the same question and you blanked out." Kakashi explained as Naruto blinked.

"Why not train while eating?" Naruto asked, much to Kakashi's grimace.

_Leave it to Naruto to answer both..._ Kakashi thought to himself with a sigh.

"Well, I guess we can train and then all join to eat afterwards." Kakashi said, leading their way out of the Academy and back towards Training Field Seven. Naruto noticed that the people, while still looking at him with some glares, were trying to hide their resentment a bit more. Naruto sighed.

_"Don't worry Kit. They'll see your true nature as time passes on."_ Kurama reassured him as Naruto nodded.

"Yeah, I just got to get stronger for that!" Naruto said aloud, much to the confusion of the others. He hurriedly shook his hands in front of him, "S-sorry, was answering Kurama there." He explained as Kakashi snickered a bit.

"Same old Naruto I guess." Kakashi said as Naruto couldn't help but keep the grin on his face while they walked on into the field, heading in front of the pond for this one.

"Well, seeing as Naruto and Sasuke have already gotten pretty good at Tree Walking, though they still have a while to go, I might as well start you on the next stage of Chakra Control training, just so you can try it out if nothing else." Kakashi explained, seemingly unsure on if they were ready for the next stage.

"Well, Sasuke and I already reached the top and back without falling!" Naruto fibbed, neither of them even have made it to the top of the trees unless they were both racing each other. Sasuke glared at the lie, but said nothing of it.

Kakashi raised an eyebrow before shrugging, "I know better then to believe that one Naruto, I watched you train yesterday so I know you only can run up about halfway of the trees. Besides, I'm merely showing you Water Walking now in order to prepare you for later on when you're actively training with it. As you all are aware, Chakra Control is one of the biggest things for a Ninja, and can turn the tide of battle by way of preserving your used Chakra for when you need it most." The three Genin nodded dumbfounded as Kakashi gave an eye smile to them, before walking on top of the pool water. All three Genin were waiting for Kakashi to fall in like an idiot, but he never did and effortlessly started walking over to the center of the small pond.

"Woah! That's so cool! I wanna do that!" Naruto yelled excitably, already forgetting Kakashi's previous statement, much to Kurama's amusement. Sakura scoffed.

"Cmon Naruto, Kakashi-sensei already said that he's just showing us it can be done! Besides, didn't you hear what he also said!?" Sakura yelled as Naruto blinked, looking confused as Kakashi gave an eye smile, waiting for Naruto's brain to catch back up.

His grin became pure disbelief as he stared at Kakashi, "Y-YOU WERE THERE!?" Naruto yelled as Kurama's laugh barked out the side of Naruto's mouth, much to Naruto's personal annoyance, "HEY! WHY ARE YOU LAUGHING, YOU DUMB FOX!?" Naruto yelled, eye color shifting again and again as Kurama presumably chased Naruto throughout his Chakra Core.

Kakashi rolled his eyes with a smirk as he looked towards the three, four he mentally corrected himself, Genin in front of him. "Okay, now once again, this is merely a demonstration, so I'm not expecting you all to be able to do this on your first go whatsoever, but I want you to notice my form real quick. Who can answer how I'm standing above the water?" Kakashi asked them, Naruto unable to answer through the screams that regularly sounded from his mouth, followed quickly by Kurama yelling words that shouldn't be repeated back towards him. **"COME HERE YOU LITTLE BRAT!"** being the least offensive of them all.

Sakura looked around as she raised her hand, Kakashi stared back and motioned her to go on, "Can you move a bit closer to us? You're a bit far away at the moment." Sakura asked as Kakashi shrugged, walking back their way.

"You don't need to raise your hand, but thank you for that I guess. Well? Any ideas you two?" Kakashi assured her, looking towards them both. Sakura wasn't really sure, but Sasuke walked forward.

"Your feet. It's the same principle as the Tree Walking, isn't it?" Sasuke asked as Kakashi shrugged.

"Not entirely, but you're on the right track." Kakashi admitted as Sakura caught on.

"Oh I see, you're using your Chakra to adjust to the water, thus keeping a stable platform to stand on!" Sakura called out in earnest as Kakashi smirked.

"You're almost there, but not quite there just yet." Kakashi egged them on as Naruto and Kurama finally stopped chasing each other, but it seemed Kurama caught Naruto as he was the next to talk instead of the body's main host.

**"Well, seeing as the Tree Walking exercise is based on coating your feet with Chakra and using it to stick to the wall like you would the ground, wouldn't it be an adjustable Chakra coat to fit the changing levels of the water? What would happen if the water suddenly shifted drastically, would you fall in from not adjusting fast enough?"** Kurama asked, curious but unsure of his explanation. Kakashi nodded.

"Indeed, all three of you hit on the head, as for your question Kurama, for the most part I would unless I wall off that change enough for it to not be sudden enough to throw my concentration off balance. The more you practice, the more you can stand the change, but it's by far the hardest of the Chakra Control exercises to learn. If you can master it, it should give you a great control of your Chakra, and be a useful tool in battle as it can apply to other objects as well, be it sand or swamps, the same principle can apply. We'll be practicing your Chakra exercises throughout your missions, if only to make sure that it's not just mindl-team-building exercises, but the progress will ultimately depend on your own selves in the end. I suggest that the next time you all practice Tree Walking, try balancing leafs as well on top of it, as well as slowly moving up and down the tree, changing up your movement to the left and the right throughout. The more varied your actions, the more control you have to extract, and thus the better you'll get at Chakra Control as a whole." Kakashi instructed, the three Genin nodding to the explanation. Even Naruto, after Kurama deemed him punished for now, nodded after getting the run-down on what had been said.

"So how does the whole Water Walking work? Is it like the Tree Walking, but more difficult?" Naruto asked as Kakashi nodded.

"Think of it this way, the trees are solid, unmoving objects that have very little variation in how much Chakra you use. As you no doubt noticed, you have to find that sweet spot, then stick to it in order to consistently climb up trees and walls, however with water, that sweet spot constantly shifts around and moves ever-changing. Once you learn to constantly change to that sweet spot, and not get caught in the trap of finding it once and just keeping it consistent from there, then you'll be able to begin practicing Water Walking." Kakashi explained, getting three nods again. He gave another eye-smile before jumping back on the land in front of the group. "With all of that said, I'll give you the choice, do you want to try to do Water Walking now, or do you want to try the Tree Walking exercise with the leafs?" Kakashi asked as Naruto grinned.

"Of course I wanna try walking on water, what do you take me for Kakashi-sensei!?" Naruto yelled out, thumb landing firmly on his own chest as he said it. Even Kurama seemed excited if the crimson glint in his eyes were anything to go by. Kakashi smirked as he moved out of the way, admittedly not expecting for Naruto to lay on the ground.

"What are you doing this time Naruto?" Sakura asked, seemingly trying not to immediately punch him for it, but Sasuke merely stared.

"I want to try walking on water, but first I need to make sure that I adjust to it, Kurama warned me that if I'm too hasty, I'm most likely just going to flop on into the water, and it would be freezing cold." Naruto explained, seemingly trying to keep his feet balanced on the water first before trying to stand up on it, much to Kakashi's pleasure.

"Good going Naruto, you're taking this how I would recommend all of you to start on out, by starting with a stable foothold, you can learn about the water's sweet spot from a more stable nature, then go about walking and seeing how that shifts it around." Kakashi said with a smile, much to Naruto's pleasure. He turned towards Sasuke and Sakura, "How about you two?" Kakashi asked as Sasuke didn't respond, instead sitting next to Naruto and beginning the same exercise, a look of pride riding in his eyes, causing Kakashi to give an eye roll at the boyish action, though he was happy to see it. Sakura on the hand sighed, shaking her head.

"Unlike them, I only just recently starting learning the Tree Walking exercise, I think it'll be better if I practice that a bit more, and build up the Chakra Control to catch up to them." Sakura said, looking a tad disappointed in herself for her lack of strength to join Sasuke and Naruto. Kakashi sighed as he looked at her.

"It's good to know your limits, just because you're limited now, doesn't mean you can't become stronger later. Naruto and Sasuke had been doing this since they were about seven when it comes to the Tree Walking, and you were still able to go farther than they could within their first week. Don't be discouraged Sakura, because I feel like you'll be able to master the technique faster than them since you have much less Chakra to work with, leading to better Chakra Control overall. Alongside that, you been practicing it more since you're aiming to becoming a Ninja Medic, and thus you need that control to begin with." Kakashi reassured her, watching her smile as a result. He nodded before looking back towards Naruto and Sasuke, both of which were still concentrating on their first steps towards Water Walking and gave him only the briefest of glares at the insults, but Sasuke more looked towards Sakura, getting up from where he was sitting and walking towards her.

"She'll need a partner to help her." Sasuke said simply as Naruto rolled his eyes, once again messing up the balance for the water.

Kakashi merely smirked, "Remember to be ready by morning, the mission begins then and we'll be out of training until late into the day because of it, I'll be here for advice, but I'm mostly going to let you three have at it." Kakashi explained as Naruto looked towards him, a light frown on his face.

"Kakashi, can you head back onto the water again?" Naruto asked as Kakashi shrugged, doing just that with his book in his hands. Naruto gulped as he stood up, laying a tentative foot onto the water, and trying his best to replicate Kakashi's amount of Chakra, leading to a snort from Kurama.

**_"Instead of trying it like a copy, how about we measure the water's Chakra, and try to replicate that?" _**Kurama asked as Naruto sighed.

_"I been trying that, but I'm not really able to measure it. It feels like it changes depending on where the water is, and thus I'm not able to go based on that. If I have Kakashi act as a Chakra Rod to try and even it out..." _Naruto said as he put his foot down...and promptly fell into the water.

"Brrr!" Naruto shuttered as he rushed to land, thankful he had been practicing in the shallow end of the pond, with Kurama howling with laughter. Struggling to keep warm, Naruto didn't bother with insulting the fox demon. Kakashi rolled his eyes at this with a sigh.

"You alright Naruto?" Kakashi asked as Naruto sighed.

"I thought I had it right and everything! I could have swore that it would work!" Naruto ranted before sniffling. Kakashi couldn't help but smile at the sight.

"Well Naruto, this was an activity that was meant to be outside your reach at the moment. I merely wanted to introduce you guys to it, and I far from expected you to get it in a single try, let alone in a single night." Kakashi said as Naruto rose to complain, before sneezing out instead. "I just wanted to give you three goals to eventually reach as we continue on. You been a Genin for about a day now, and we only have so long to train before you become a Chunnin, so I want to make sure you have reasons to train." Kakashi continued, further confusing Naruto.

"But I-I want to try and do them now!" Naruto whined, much to Kurama's annoyance, but Kakashi didn't show any hint of annoyance himself.

"That's the point of goals. We want to do them now, but we have to work up to them to be able to do them. Let's give an example. You wanted to do Tree Walking before, right? What did you have to do, in order to do that?" Kakashi asked, subtly leading Naruto's brain to the inevitable conclusion.

"I...I had to train with the Leaf Exercise to learn Chakra Control, then slowly adjust myself to the new exercise. Having a rival in Sasuke helped because he drove me to keep going, right?" Naruto asked, Kurama subtly helping with the wording of it all, much to Kakashi's amusement. Naruto seemed to not notice.

"Indeed you did, and now that you hit a similar crossroads, you'll have to train again. Though...there is a way that you could improve it a tad faster, though I don't want you to abuse it." Kakashi said with an eye smile.

Despite the freezing chill that Naruto felt, he immediately grinned in excitement, "Really!? What do I do? What do I do?" Naruto begged as Kakashi smiled.

_**"Please never do that again." **_Kurama groaned out as Naruto grinned mentally.

_"If you promise not to laugh at me like that again." _Naruto said, furthering Kurama's groan.

_**"Fine, fine...just. Don't do that again for the love of Kami..." **_Kurama answered back.

"Well, you remember how your Shadow Clone Jutsu works, right?" Kakashi asked as Naruto nodded.

"Yeah, it sends back the pain to me, right?" Naruto asked as Kakashi shook his head.

"Not quite, it copies anything that you has learned and then brings it back to you after it vanishes. Here, let me show you with my own." Kakashi said, not moving a muscle as a shadow clone appeared next to him.

"Yo." The clone said, looking towards Naruto before facing the real Kakashi, "What do you need?" He asked as Kakashi looked towards Naruto.

"Hey Naruto, go with that me over there, and tell him something that I don't know, then I'll dismiss it and I'll know what you said." Kakashi explained as Naruto blinked.

"Wouldn't you just overhear us?" Naruto rightfully asked, making Kurama proud that he respected the Jonin enough to not underestimate him. Kakashi chuckled.

"He'll put up privacy seals, meaning I won't be able to hear you through them, and if nothing else, you can ask me before I dismiss it, and I won't know." Kakashi explained before shooing them off before Naruto could have anymore concerns.

The clone put up a privacy ward as Naruto sighed. "So, I'm supposed to tell you something you don't know, right?" Naruto asked as the clone nodded, "Hmm...I used to think Sakura was cute, but that was before she started attacking me so often, I think it's nice that she's learning healing, but her punches hurt! I just wish that she would ease up on them towards me, and she's obviously trying, but they still hurt a lot!" Naruto ranted, sighing at the end. The clone sighed.

"Well, he did say he wanted something new alright...that'll work Naruto, let's go see the actual me, okay?" Naruto nodded as the privacy wards disappated.

"What did you talk about?" Kakashi asked as Naruto shook his head.

"I'm not telling you!" Naruto huffed as Kakashi looked towards the clone, watching it pop in a puff of smoke.

"Oh, so that's how you feel towards Sakura, I kinda feel for you there, but it just means that if she practices, she'll be even stronger of a hitter, she just needs to control that strength of hers in order to know who to hit, and how hard her punch needs to be. I guess I'll help her with that whenever we get to the strength training." Kakashi casually said, leading Naruto to jaw drop.

"Wha-How!? How did you do that Kakashi-sensei!?" Naruto asked, flabbergasted as Kakashi snickered.

"As I said, everything the clone learns gets copied over, including memories and physical training. I want you to only do this with me while we train you to master the Multi Shadow Clone: Air Barrage Jutsu since it can be really dangerous and life-threatening if done wrong, but what you can do is use your Shadow Clones to help you train your Chakra Control, and with that you'll be able to better get a hold of your Chakra. There's a lot we have to go through, but we have the time to go through with it, one day at a time." Kakashi explained, before instructing him to use the jutsu himself.

Naruto nodded, trying to do it with no signs, but failing to do so, instead put his hands together to make a plus sign with two fingers on both his hands, a weird Ox-like sign that Kakashi raised an eyebrow to.

Naruto merely shrugged, "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" He yelled, seeing a good fifteen Narutos pop up around him as Kakashi looked at them and sighed.

"Any way you can make less? It wouldn't be as dangerous if you limited it to five and yourself." Kakashi asked as Naruto shook his head.

"This is as far as I can lower it, sorry Kakashi-sensei." Naruto said as Kakashi sighed.

"Well we only need five clones, so maybe the other ten can help you learn something else?" Kakashi asked as Naruto shrugged.

"What do you think I should have them practice?" Naruto asked as one of his clones poked his shoulder.

"Hey boss, I have an idea. How about we have five practice throwing shuriken and the like, five practice our training style, and then the other five can join you two on what you want. If we have Kakashi-sensei make two clones, he can help us make sure we're doing it correctly and get us ahead in all our current fields." The clone listed with a grin, Naruto returned it as he looked towards Kakashi.

"Works for me, just make sure that you all don't pop at once as that could seriously hurt Naruto in the process. In any case, I'll split you all into groups of four." Kakashi said as two clones appeared on both sides of himself, dragging off some groups. "That group of four will be practicing Shuriken and Kunai, to try and help you more get used to it, as well as helping you out with whatever wacky idea you have for it." Kakashi explained as Naruto watched the other clone take two groups with him. "Seeing as your style eventually becomes the combined Taijutsu style, one set of the four will be working on physical training while the other works through the Taijutsu style itself. This way you'll be ready whenever you and Sasuke need to combine your styles into one." Kakashi continued on, as he looked towards the three clones and the real Naruto beside him, "As for you four, you'll be working on the Tree Walking exercise, but while balancing a leaf in your hand. Once you can get to three leafs per hand, you can work on trying to jump between the trees, and even working to steal your clones leafs, just something to try and force you to keep your concentration in a high stress environment." Kakashi instructed as the four Narutos nodded, gathering two leafs each and starting to try balancing them alongside the Tree Walking.

The training carried on for Team Seven as they went well into the afternoon, only eventually stopping when Kakashi walked to each of them a few hours later, to where he motioned them to head on home. Sakura was rapidly progressing with Chakra Control, and while Naruto had trained with multiple Shadow Clones, he was still much more than exhausted Sakura and Sasuke, he didn't make nearly the amount of progress she did with Chakra Control, but Sasuke wasn't much better either, both having joined Naruto with the training midway through via Kakashi's advice. The three were walking together when Sakura looked at the two of them.

"So...I'll meet you for the mission? My house is this way." Sakura asked as Naruto grinned.

"See you then Sakura-chan!" Naruto said as he started walking off towards his own home, looking towards Sasuke with a light smile on his face as he did so.

"Well, my house is also along that way, maybe we could talk a bit more about the Healing Waves technique?" Sasuke asked, trying to make some light conversation as Sakura's smile widened.

"Yeah, I can help you with that." She said as they walked off for the night.

* * *

Naruto walked into the Akimichi compound with a yawn, tired from the day as he smiled towards Choji before walking into their house, nearly forgetting that Choza was once again off on a mission. He looked towards Choji, "You're also exhausted, Choji?" Naruto asked as Choji groaned.

"Yeah, Anko-sensei worked us to the bone today. She kept sending that damn pet snake of hers at us and demanding we dodge in time. I still remember the amount of bite marks that she had to heal up from us, it totaled up higher than I could count." Choji explained, getting a wince from Naruto.

"Yesh, I don't envy you on that one..." Naruto said in sympathy, not bothering to block the yawn of his from going out. "Let's get something to eat then head on over to bed." Naruto said as he started cooking for himself, with Choji cooking his own supper. The two mostly ate in silence as Choji broke the silence with a sigh.

"So, what did you learn on your training today?" Choji asked between bites. Naruto shrugged.

"I learned that my Chakra Control really isn't that great. With the amount of Chakra Kurama and I share, I have to work a lot before I can even begin to walk on water. Man I was so excited for that too..." Naruto groaned out, catching Choji off guard.

Choji stopped eating and looked at Naruto as if he heard incorrectly, "I'm sorry, did I just hear you say **walk on water?**" Choji stressed as Naruto nodded.

"Yeah basically, you use Chakra to adjust to the water like you would for Tree Walking, but you have to consistently keep adjusting to it or else you fall right into it. It's like being on...being on a water bed, trying to stand on those is really hard cause of them constantly moving around and bubbling below you." Naruto explained, thankful of the lessons that he had listened in to about the existence of water beds. Choji looked excited, but continued eating without a word.

"I'm training with you guys tomorrow." Choji grinned as Naruto sighed and shook his head.

"I can try, but I don't know, we're doing our first mission tomorrow, but afterwards for sure." Naruto said, not fully dismissing it, but not entirely sure about it either. Kurama snored in his head as Naruto rolled his eyes, "Well, time for bed Choji, I'll see you tomorrow, okay?" Naruto said as Choji nodded.

"Night Naruto!" Choji said as they both yawned, before Naruto headed for his room and rested onto his bed, looking fondly at the picture frame that now rested between pictures of his seventh birthday and him with Honoke, Kakashi, Sasuke, and Tenzo. It was a picture that had happened earlier in the day, a picture to celebrate being on a team together, and one that Naruto couldn't help but be impressed with. On one hand, he had no idea how it was there so fast, but on the other hand, it looked nice.

His brain spiraling down different reasons until they became a mere blur, Naruto finally fell asleep for the night.

* * *

Extra Scene Alpha: "Wait, aren't they supposed to be in the Nara compound?"

The guards couldn't help but stare as Naruto and Choji casually walked on past towards the empty Akimichi house of their leader, looking dumbfounded as they did. They looked exhausted as they stumbled their way to the door, letting themselves in with a key they always had with them.

One of the guards, a large Akimichi woman, blinked as they went on past, before turning towards the other guard, an Akimichi man, "Wait, aren't they supposed to be in the Nara compound until Lord Akimichi comes back?"

Her husband shrugged back at her, "They look exhausted and besides, it's not like they aren't his children, I don't think we really think it's that bad if nothing else." He said before yawning, "Besides, shift's almost over..." He said as the woman scoffed.

"All those calories just made you lazy, shame on you Chanrei." She scolded as the man shrugged once again.

"You want to go into that house and tell his kids off? Have fun with that one." Chanrei told her with a raised eyebrow as she blinked, thought about it, before turning away from the compound.

"Good point. I'll make dinner for us tonight." She said as he smiled, both getting back to work as usual.

* * *

_**A/N Not gonna lie, this chapter just refused to write for the most part! I didn't mean for it to take t**__**his long, but I was always busy with something else to the point where I really couldn't do much about it! Thankfully the chapter's over now and I know where we're going next. Yes indeed, the next chapter will focus on the D rank mission that Iruka set aside for Naruto. I figured with what happened during the Pre-Academy, and how all of the Fox Squad showed their skills there, that they might get more missions that are more important than mowing someone's lawn or something. Not to say they won't get those D rank missions, but those aren't going to be the only D ranks they will be getting. **_

_**I based this idea mostly from Naruto: Uzumaki Chronicles, where D ranks could involve something like finding out about a local supply shop is suddenly closing down, to escorting a minor prisoner a bit from the village gates to the village, things like that. So I figured, why not focus on some In-Village missions that would introduce the cast to some world building while Sakura introduces us to more Medjutsu world building? It's going to be a blast, seeing as I finally have an idea of where this arc is going.**_

_**I...couldn't remember if I introduced Naruto to the concept of Shadow Clone Training before, but I'm assuming that I probably did and Naruto just thought it was the pain that was transferred and nothing more, hopefully that clears up that plot-hole lmfao. As for what's next? Well I'm definitely going to be working on Chapter 6 before even beginning Chapter 11, since I still don't have that damn chapter done, so stay tuned for that!**_

_**With all this virus stuff going on, just stay home, stay safe, and hey, maybe read some fanfictions.**_

_**Over and out! -Char Mossirren**_


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